JOIN USIt's a pipe dream: BJP debunks Opposition unity
Debunking Opposition’s unity efforts as a mere “pipe dream”, the BJP on Sunday sought to portray the political battle in 2019 as Modi versus all. It also promised to provide a New India free from communalism, corruption, poverty and terror under his leadership.
“The Opposition is only having a pipe dream. It neither has a leader, nor a policy, not even a strategy. Hence it is rattled. It has only one motto — Stop Modi. People do not stand with such a negative campaign,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters, quoting from Vision 2022, the party’s political resolution passed on the concluding day of its National Executive.
Amid cheers from party workers, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who moved the resolution, gave the slogan “Aao Milkar Kamal Khilaayen (Let us make the lotus bloom together)”.
Contrasting the performance of Modi government with UPA’s, especially on security front, the political resolution said there was “a bomb blast every month during 10 years’ rule of UPA”. “Now there is no blast, no terror activities,” Javadekar said.
Javadekar claimed that terrorism has come down in Kashmir and that security forces are giving a befitting reply to ultras. “Naxalism is on the verge of extinction,” he said.
Citing the work done by the Modi government in four years, the resolution said the party can now say with confidence that “a New India will definitely be a reality by 2022, a new India that is free from poverty, corruption, terrorism and communalism.”
The political resolution expressed confidence that Modi’s commitment for New India will be fulfilled by 2022 because he still has 70% rating in popularity even after four and a half years in power.
“Modi has vision, passion and imagination,” said Javadekar, who also hailed the “unique pair” of Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, a day after the national executive decided to extend the tenure of Shah as party president till the Lok Sabha elections are over.
At a time when the BJP has high hopes in the Northeast, the political resolution also mentioned about lifting of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Tripura, Meghalya and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
“Something of that sort will also happen in Assam,” said Javadekar. Assam is the only the Northeastern state where the BJP has a government and it has formed a political coalition, the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), to expand its footprint in the region.
On Saturday, the first day of the conclave, the BJP had passed its resolution on agriculture reiterating its commitment to double farmers’ income by 2022, a deadline which extends well beyond the term of the current government which ends in mid-2019. The theme of 2022 has repeatedly been taken up by Modi and BJP men, apparently to give an impression that the Modi government is to continue for a second term.
Similarly, as Opposition parties have begun closing ranks against the BJP, the party in a recollection of the late Indira Gandhi’s famous remarks “woh kehte hain ‘Indira hatao’; main kehti hoon garibi hatao”.(They say banish Indira, I say banish poverty), has now been seeking to portray Opposition unity efforts as something targeted on an individual Modi, apparently to create sympathy and also cash in on the personal charisma of the prime minister.
Javadekar slammed the Opposition for “negative politics”, which, it said, has no takers. He also claimed that the Jan Dhan Yojana started by Modi government has brought more financial inclusion than even the nationalisation of banks done by Indira Gandhi in 1969. “What could not happen in 47 years since the nationalisation of banks has been done in just 47 months now,” he said.