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In welfare pitch, BJP slams ‘family politics’
Lashing out at opposition parties for trying to “mislead” the nation, BJP president JP Nadda said they have played a “destructive role” and tried to create impediments in the development and welfare agenda.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda hit out at dynastic politics as a two-day meet of the party’s national executive began in Hyderabad on Saturday, bringing in focus a key plank on which the ruling party plans to take on the Opposition in the build-up to the 2024 elections.
Lashing out at opposition parties for trying to “mislead” the nation, the BJP president said they have played a “destructive role” and tried to create impediments in the development and welfare agenda.
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In the inaugural address of the meet, which is being attended by the BJP’s top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nadda said that opposition parties, in their zeal to criticise the PM, are opposing the country by going after the government’s good measures and schemes.
“When the BJP is in power, it empowers the poor and when the Opposition is in power, it empowers families,” Nadda said while addressing party workers.
His statement was in line with PM Modi’s instruction to his party colleagues in the past to flag the perils of dynastic politics. Senior leaders of the party said the dynastic politics-versus-merit debate will be key in the party’s electoral campaign for the 2024 general elections and a clutch of upcoming state elections.
The BJP national executive also passed an economic and “garib kalyan” resolution at the meet on Saturday. While Union minister Rajnath Singh proposed it, Piyush Goyal and Manohar Lal Khattar seconded the resolution.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the economic resolution acknowledged the government’s “gareeb kalyan sankalp (resolve to empower the poor)”.
While the Opposition has been critical about the government’s economic policies, Pradhan said the government has already promised government sector jobs. “In the coming years we will create 10 lakh jobs in the government sector… Agnipath has been appreciated. Implantation of the Gati Shakti will also help create jobs, exports are also going up in the global services sector and in the metal sector,” he said.
Addressing mediapersons, Pradhan said that while the Covid-19 pandemic set off a global economic crisis, India managed to take care of the poor through a slew of social welfare schemes. He said the government’s work in the past eight years has emerged as a “global model”.
Apart from the Prime Minister and BJP president Nadda, the meeting is being attended by Union home minister Amit Shah, chief ministers of 19 states and other senior BJP leaders at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre. The Prime Minister is expected to address the meet on Sunday, and is likely to present a road map for the party ahead of upcoming elections.
“When he spoke of the constructive politics of the BJP, he reflected on the destructive politics that they (Opposition) hope to thrust on the country. The Opposition, mostly family-oriented, has time and again tried that policies that are intended to empower the poor are met with destruction and disruption,” Union minister Smriti Irani told reporters while detailing Nadda’s speech.
She said that Nadda, in his address, said the opposition parties have begun to oppose issues that are in the interest of the country while opposing PM Modi.
For its part, the Opposition has blamed the government for encouraging communal polarization, referring to recent comments made by some BJP leaders. The BJP’s spokesperson Nupur Sharma was recently suspended after an international controversy over her comments on Prophet Mohammed.
Responding to a question on the Opposition alleging that the government fosters an atmosphere of unrest, Irani said: “The destructive politics of the Opposition has been reflected in the (BJP) president’s speech. It also reflected on how the BJP works irrespective of the propaganda based on nothing but misinformation with the intent to create disruption. Irrespective of these shenanigans of the Opposition, the people of India vehemently voted for Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, which is evidence that the people of this country believe in him and that under his leadership, are looking up to building India as a stronger nation.”
To a separate question on Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao not personally receiving PM Modi, who arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday, Irani said the CM did not insult an individual, but an institution.
“The PM has given a clarion call for cooperative federalism and in the last eight years, met all leaders… with respect, as is validated by ‘maryada’. That KCR has not only disrupted what has been a constitutionally federal protocol reflects on him,” she said.
The BJP and the TRS in Telangana have been engaged in a war of words recently. The BJP asserts that the countdown to the exit of the TRS government in the state has begun. On Saturday, the TRS government referred to the two-day BJP meeting as a “circus”.
Irani, however, retorted that the meeting was a platform to discuss issues of “nation-building”.
“For KCR and his political entity, politics may be a circus and people may be affiliated to clownish behaviour and he may not take it with the seriousness that it deserves. But for us, it is a medium for social emancipation and nation-building. It is in such national meetings we pay homage to the contribution of our citizens and take oath to serve our country better.”
The BJP has accused the TRS of following dynastic politics and accused the government of failing to meet the promises it made to the people of the state.
The Union minister said that Nadda also celebrated the good governance of the Modi government and acknowledged his consistent service for 20 years in public office. “He highlighted the sacrifices of SP Mukherjee so we could stand united as one nation… He thanked the PM and the Union home minister… on Article 370… it is our party’s pride that the PM has kept the promise of equal opportunities and emancipation of the poor that Deen Dayal Upadhyay spoke of,” Irani said.
“He was particularly pleased to express our gratitude to the PM with regard to schemes dedicated to emancipation of women, whether it was building of 11 crore toilets or housing,” she said.
Nadda also expressed concern over political violence and attacks against BJP workers in Opposition-ruled states of West Bengal and Kerala.
“He said the nation is witness to how our workers are being killed in states such as West Bengal, Kerala…,” she said.
