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PM credits Gujarat BJP unit, its chief for landslide poll win
According to a party functionary present at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, the PM said Paatil should be credited for the big win in the state where the BJP broke all previous records by winning 156 of the 182 seats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the work undertaken by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s unit in Gujarat ahead of the assembly polls in the state is a testimony to the role that a robust organisation can play in winning elections, especially singling out state unit president CR Paatil for leading the party to a historic mandate.
According to a party functionary present at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, the PM said Paatil should be credited for the big win in the state where the BJP broke all previous records by winning 156 of the 182 seats.
Addressing BJP lawmakers, the PM who was felicitated for BJP’s emphatic victory in Gujarat chose to pass on the accolades to the hard work of the state unit. According to the party functionary the PM underlined the importance of a well-oiled organisation that works with cohesion and dedication.
“The PM also credited [BJP president] JP Nadda,” the functionary added. Paatil was appointed the state unit president in 2020.
Modi also spoke on the work done by the BJP government in the state that helped the party buck anti-incumbency despite being in power since 1998 and not losing an election since 1995.
“The PM gave the example of West Bengal where the communists had long history of having been in power for many consecutive terms, but what set that state apart from Gujarat is the latter’s development. The PM said the BJP came to power for the seventh time riding on the popularity of the state government’s development agenda,” the functionary said.
This is was the first meeting of the parliamentary party after the winter session pf Parliament began on December 7.
At the meeting, Nadda spoke about the slim margin of loss in Himachal Pradesh — the party won just around 37,000 votes fewer than the Congress across the state, but that was enough to translate into a seat difference of 15 in the 68-member assembly — and union minister Ashwani Vaishnaw gave a presentation on the state of economy.
According to a second party functionary present at the meeting, Vaishnaw told lawmakers that inflation in India is under control and the country is the only bright spot among the top seven countries. “He explained how the cost of living has gone up exponentially in the west and India is comparatively better off. He also said that economy is comfortably growing in the 6-8% GDP band and that there has been a revival in investment.”
Retail inflation data released on Monday came in at 5.88%, a 11-month low, and wholesale inflation data released Wednesday at 5.85%, a 21-month low.
On the employment front, Vaishnaw told his colleagues that unemployment rate during the BJP rule has been lower than during the UPA regime and that the impact of the Covid pandemic on employment is declining.
To be sure, the biggest government survey on employment has so far shown limited evidence that the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on employment is declining. Data for both rural and urban areas is available from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) only up to 2020-21 (PLFS follows a July-June) calendar. This data shows that unemployment rate decreased in 2019-20 (the pandemic had reached India in the last three months of this PLFS year, too) and 2020-21, but only because of a sharp increase in the share of unpaid self-employed workers and a decrease in the share of salaried workers. If unpaid self-employed workers are counted as unemployed, the unemployment rate appears to increase in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
For the period after June 2021, the NSO has only published quarterly bulletins for urban areas, which has select indicators available up to the quarter ending September 2022. While these numbers show a decline in urban unemployment, they also suggest that part of the decline is because people are taking up poor quality jobs, as HT has reported earlier. The share of salaried workers was 48.7% in the quarter ending September, for example, the same as the year before value, which is the lowest level for the quarter.
At the meeting, Modi also urged the BJP members to keep working on campaigns such as Khelo India and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and reiterated that innovative programmes should be thought of to ensure the participation of people in the G20 summit. India took over the presidency of the grouping on December 1, and has planned around 200 events in the run-up to the big G20 summit in Delhi in September 2023.
Modi has previously asked his party colleagues to ensure that the summit is used as a platform for showcasing India’s culture, diversity and Indianess.
