‘Bold steps marked Modi 2.0 first year’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30

BJP president JP Nadda today said the first year of Narendra Modi government 2.0 was that of accomplishments, unimaginable challenges and bold and decisive decisions. PM Modi was able to bridge the development gap of 60 years in six years with decisiveness and bold decisions, bringing a “cultural change in the political arena” of the country, he said.

Momentum helped

When PM Modi took over in 2014, the country was at a standstill. In the first term he gave a momentum to governance. In the second... it was already in momentum due to which bold steps could be taken. — JP Nadda, BJP President

“When PM Modi took over in 2014, the country was at a standstill. In the first term, he gave momentum to governance. In the second term (in 2019), it was already in momentum due to which bold and decisive steps could be taken, some also before time,” Nadda said.

Decisions like abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A were a result of PM’s ‘ichha shakti’ (willpower), the ‘sutradhaar’ (anchor) of which became Home Minister Amit Shah, he said.

The BJP president said during the Covid-19 crisis, the PM led from the front, taking bold and timely decisions by involving people to combat the infection at a time when many big, powerful countries found themselves helpless. “Timely lockdown led to a situation where the country is a stable situation,” he said.

Slamming Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of the Modi government’s handling of the situation, Nadda said the Congress leader’s understanding of the issues was “limited” and “all about politics”.

“His statements are not about addressing the crisis. The Congress has not behaved responsibly,” he said, adding all Gandhi had done so far was “confuse” the country.

Citing Citizenship Amendment Act, scrapping of Article 370, strengthening of anti-terror laws, bank mergers among the key successes, Nadda said the bold decisions helped strengthen the country and realise the objective of ‘one nation, one Constitution’. Nadda accused the Congress of delaying the decision on the Ayodhya case.

A huge disappointment, says Congress

The Congress termed first year of NDA-II a huge disappointment marked by disastrous mismanagement of lockdown. Party leaders KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala sought resignation of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for ‘failure to manage safe return of migrants’ and the Himachal CM over alleged PPE scam.