Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the final day of the BJP’s national executive giving the party a new slogan for the upcoming polls in four States and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, namely, Ajeya Bharat, Atal BJP (invincible India, steadfast BJP) even as party chief Amit Shah claimed a reign of 50 years for the party, if it pulls off victory in 2019.
Briefing the media after Mr. Modi’s address, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that he had launched an aggressive attack on the Opposition, claiming that his government had never been criticised on facts, only on falsehoods and misrepresentation. Mr. Prasad added that the Mr. Modi had termed the Opposition unity efforts as a “victory for the BJP” as parties who could not “bear to see eye to eye were now embracing in order to the defeat the BJP”.
“The Mahagathbandhan has no leadership, unclear policies and unethical intentions,” Mr. Prasad said quoting Mr. Modi. He added that many smaller parties did not accept the leadership of the Congress for the Mahagathbandhan and even “some within Congress itself do not accept the leadership”, a direct hit at Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Mr. Shah, said Mr. Prasad, laid down a target of 22 crore voters to be reached out to by the party, stating that the 9 crore enrolled party members could make short work of the target.
Caste Conundrum
The BJP’s executive was also expected to be the venue where Mr. Modi would clarify on caste resentments that have arisen both among Dalit groups and upper castes, especially in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. While not directly speaking on the issue, Mr. Modi alluded to the same by elaborately explaining that his government did not discriminate on the basis of any identity marker in its many welfare programmes. “We believe in development with a human face, equality with humanity. I want my country to grow and be affluent, but the bedrock of that must be simplicity. This is how we have in the last four years raised 5 crore people out of extreme poverty,” Mr Prasad quoted Prime Minister Modi. This clarifies that the BJP and the government will not be backing off from any of the pro-Dalit moves undertaken by it so far. He also attacked the Congress what he termed its policy U-turns from nationalisation of banks, mines and coal etc to undertaking market reforms both in the name of the poor. “Why was this U-turn? And did the poor gain from its policies,” asked the Prime Minister.
Political Resolution
The BJP national executive passed a political resolution, moved by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on the last day of the two-day meeting, lauding Mr. Modi for his vision for a “New India” free from corruption, casteism, communalism and terrorism, and resolving firmly to achieve it by 2022, the 75th year of India’s independence. The resolution made several references to contemporary political and economic developments, though not to rising fuel prices or the Rafale deal, and included equidistance from Israel and Palestine in foreign policy and the party’s walkout from the coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir a few months ago.
The resolution also referred to the controversial decision of demonetisation taken by the Modi government in 2016 and its fall out. “Demonetisation, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy code are measures that set India’s economic basics right while bringing economic discipline and rule of law in governance,” adding that “as a result, after a brief slowdown the Indian economy is rising fast”.
In a passage on internal security, the resolution claims that up to 600 terrorists have been eliminated in the Kashmir Valley due to the “stern steps” by the Modi government. “The National Executive is proud that our leadership has held national interest above party interest and boldly walked out of the government in that State in order to facilitate more concrete actions for peace and development there,” the resolution said.
