The people of India made a “historic blunder” by voting out the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government in 2004, according to BJP’s Delhi President Harsh Vardhan who on Monday stressed that only the saffron party will be able to address the people’s core concerns.
“The Modi wave now sweeping the country has its roots in the national resolve to revive the era of progress and positivity which abruptly ended when the UPA came to power in 2004. After that it has been only downhill. The people of India will not blunder again,” said Dr. Vardhan, who is contesting from Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency.
Stating that the common man was better off in 2004 than now, Dr. Vardhan said corruption, price rise, flawed policymaking and communal politics in the decade that followed, have ended up dividing the nation between the rich and the poor and between communities.
“History is replete with examples of irrational democratic mandates which the people later reversed. In 1945 the British people voted out Winston Churchill even though the great Prime Minister had led them to victory in World War II,” he said while addressing a press conference here.
“The most famous recent example is George W. Bush’s arguable victory over Al Gore in 2000 which the American people now regret. The same is true about India in 2004. Still, the BJP respected people’s verdict and carried its responsibility as an opposition party.”
“The people of India wish to see an able, performing Prime Minister. Vajpayee was the greatest Prime Minister India ever had because he had firm visions and was an international statesman,” Dr. Vardhan said.
Regretting the depths to which the political discourse has fallen in the run up to the elections 2014, Dr. Vardhan blamed the Congress and AAP for lowering India’s prestige by making slanderous personal attacks.
Elaborating on BJP’s campaign, Dr. Vardhan said that it has been divided into four segments.
Firstly, promise of good governance and economic growth based on the Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh models is one of the key factors of BJP campaigning while total transparency through e-governance is another key element.
BJP is the only party which has assured the people of freedom from fear of Pakistani and Chinese intrusions, he said.
“We do not compromise on the integrity of Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian union unlike AAP which speaks with a forked tongue on the subject. We are resolved to root out terrorism but we don’t believe that terrorism has a religion. The Congress has sought to polarize the people by putting into jail innocent Muslims,” Dr. Vardhan said.
He said BJP aims to raise the condition of the youth by increasing education and training facilities, and creating jobs in every sector.
Chairman of Delhi BJP Lok Sabha Election Management and Campaign Committee Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra said that the work of door to door public contact with the voters by BJP workers for all the seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi has been completed.
