Prime Minister Narendra Modi made two speeches in the last two days --
one each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and that exposed Rahul Gandhi and his
'Balak Buddhi (childish maturity)'.
I do not want to deal with the political aspects of the debate that went on in
both the Houses of Parliament. The Congress leaders and the party's 'ecosystem'
was rejoicing perhaps every moment of Rahul's half-truth statements in Lok
Sabha on July 1, 2024. Incidentally, all of it were part of an attempt for the
relaunch of Rahul Gandhi-LoP as a new brand equity. But entire exercise has
been wasted as in the ultimate by July 3rd, the Congress did not have guts to
face Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Rajya Sabha.
In fact, both the speeches by Prime Minister Modi were simply good and
Rahul has been outsmarted convincingly. I could sound little ruthless if I say
in fact Modi's two speeches have exposed Rahul Gandhi's image of an 'immature
leader'. There is an Hindi adjective for it. Let us not go into it.
My focus in this column is the emphasis the Prime Minister has given for
developmental works those undertaken by our government in the last 10 years and
the major milestones we want to capture by 2047. Viksit Bharat -- that is a
Developed India is our mission - and the Prime Minister has given
right emphasis towards the same.
It goes without stating that the people of India voted the NDA led by Shri Modi
ji to power for the third time in a row to achieve the goals of development and
self-reliance through 'Viksit Bharat' and 'Atamnirbhar Bharat' targets.
We have risen from the 11th to the fifth-largest economy in the last 10 years
notwithstanding challenges like Covid and global recession. In the words of
Modi ji himself, the mandate 2024 is to take the economy to third place from
the present fifth place. And yes, we will achieve the same and we shall
overcome the hurdles including very uncooperative atmosphere presented by our
political rivals within the country.
The Prime Minister has also underlined the importance of strengthening the four
pillars of women, farmers, poor and youth. On this backdrop we have schemes
like Kisan Credit Card and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and Kisan Kalyan Schemes to
help Indian farmers.
It is also notable that our Modi government has also given a subsidy of Rs 12
lakh crores for fertilizers to the poor farmers. Needless to add this is the
highest figure since Independence. As many as 25 crore poor people have come
out of poverty shadow during our term.
We must also applaud Modi's own style of statecraft handling and diplomacy. At
the global stage, India has an enhanced stature then it was 10 years back.
India has truly gone global and is now welcoming foreign investments.
Millions of dollars pouring in different sectors will certainly pave the
way for employment opportunities. Friendship with Russia is helping us to keep
the fuel price at check and this is saving the markets from the impact of
inflation.
I would finally end the article with a quote from PM's speech in Rajya
Sabha when he said, "I used to tell people of the country during the
elections that the work we have done in the last 10 years...it is just the
appetizer as per our dreams and resolution, the main course has just
started".
Truly this speaks of the sheer determination of the 73-year-old man who
delivered his speech in Lok Sabha unrelenting amid slogan shouting for 2 hours
and more. The least is expected from Congress to tender an apology for their
misconduct in Lok Sabha. The Congress also showed disrespect to the office of
the Prime Minister.
(The author is National Vice President, BJP)