For Nadda, 'acche din' are already here

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has brought in "good days" by transforming India, BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda said on Sunday.

On a two-day visit to Mumbai in the run-up to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, Nadda said that Prime Minister Modi has changed the "political culture" of India by focusing on governance issues.

"Let me remind of our promise (before the 2014 elections)- 'acche din aanewale hai, desh badal raha hai'.... let me tell you 'acche din aa gaye hai, desh badal gaya hai'... It is a reality and I can speak on this with facts and figures," Nadda said while addressing the state executive of Maharashtra at Goregaon here.

Nadda hailed the leadership of Modi and BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as he reeled out the achievements of the first five years of the Modi government and what it was doing now.

"The BJP aims at Congress mukt-Bharat and BJP yukt-Bharat... Congress mukt-Bharat means corruption-free India and commission-free India," he said.

"By saying Congress-mukt, we don't mean the party as such. BJP-yukt means development-oriented. It means focus on service and development and work at the grassroots level and not work for self-promotion," the former Union health minister said.

"Modi's victories in 2014 and 2019 are a rejection of the vote bank and caste politics... People have rejected (vote bank ke mathadheesh) those who lorded over votebanks," he said giving the example of the SP and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh.

He asked BJP workers to "look globally, act locally" and asserted that it should be the motto of BJP workers.

India's image abroad was that of a corrupt country which suffered foreign policy paralysis and lacked direction, he said speaking about the pre-2014 India.

"Now, people of Indian origin abroad and those living here feel proud to be Indian," he said, pointing out that Modi has been conferred awards for his achievements by countries like the UAE, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

The Modi government's cleanliness drive was mocked, but the prime minister was given the 'Champion of the Earth' award by the United Nations, he said.