The Bharatiya Janata Party showered lavish praise on itself on Friday, the opening day of its national executive meeting, setting the tone for a three-month image-building exercise that will make the claim that the Narendra Modi government is pro-poor, pro-farmer and has ushered in the good times (achhe din) that it had promised in its election campaign a year ago.
The party felicitated president Amit Shah and Mr. Modi for the membership drive that has seen the BJP enrol nearly 10 crore members. “Many people who did not vote for the BJP in the last election have enrolled as members,” Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
Mr. Shah lauded the Modi government for its 10 months in power. “The party president said while the Congress-led regime at the Centre was known for scams, this government has ushered in an era of transparency and good governance,” Mr. Javadekar said.
With the party facing political isolation in the first leg of the Budget Session of Parliament over the Land Acquisition Bill, Mr. Shah sought to position the BJP as pro-poor. He praised the Modi government for launching the Jan Dhan Yojana and opening bank accounts for the poor, launching insurance schemes and soil testing programmes for farmers.
“We fought for farmers at the WTO to continue providing Minimum Support Prices beyond 2016. The Congress acceded to the demand to end MSP, but we fought and succeeded,” Mr. Javadekar said, quoting the BJP president’s address.
“Mr. Shah also said that the Congress had acquired land under the archaic British law for 60 years after independence and is now blaming the present government for the land acquisition law,” he added.
Modi highlights initiatives for farmers, rural economy
Mr. Modi on Friday reiterated the achievements of his government, stressing cooperative federalism and the “good intentions” of the BJP regime.
Addressing a public meeting in Basavangudi, the Prime Minister dedicated a substantial part of his speech to highlight his government’s initiatives for farmers and the rural economy. He said land was needed to build roads, irrigation projects and housing in villages.
Meanwhile, in his presidential address at the national executive, BJP president Amit Shah described 2014 as a year of victories for the party.
He also got into campaign mode for the Bihar Assembly elections, charging that the State had returned to “jungle raj.” Mr. Shah said the voters of the State had given the mandate to the BJP and the Janata Dal (United), but the latter “betrayed that mandate by breaking ties with the BJP.”
The party president also announced the launch of three campaigns to involve political activists of the BJP.
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said: “We have decided to launch a campaign to free the country of manual scavenging, the Beti Padhao Beti Bachao campaign for gender sensitisation and education of the girl child and finally the Navami Gange programme for river cleaning.”
The programmes aim at utilising the BJP’s new members.
