PM’s speech at BJP national executive may set tone for Parliament session

At a rare open session of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) national executive on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to deliver a speech that might shape the political discourse in the run-up to the winter session of Parliament, and assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The speech, which will be open to the media and telecast live by state broadcaster Doordarshan, comes at a time when the Modi government is facing criticism for the economic slowdown. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said a stimulus package is in the works.

The BJP’s national executive is set to pass a resolution spelling out the economic road map of the government for the next one year. Besides, it is expected to laud the PM’s leadership for the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) regime that integrated India into a single economic unit, and the government’s commitment to welfare of the poor.

Usually, the national executive, chaired by party president, is attended by its 120-odd members and an equal number of special invitees. However, the BJP is hosting an ‘extended’ national executive this time. The audience would comprise all the party’s elected representatives in Parliament and state legislatures.

Significantly, September 25 is the birth anniversary of Jana Sangh icon Deendayal Upadhyaya, whose vision of ‘ antyodaya’ has become the cornerstone of the Modi government’s ‘garib kalyan’, or welfare of the poor, policy architecture since early 2016.