RAHUL STARTS GUJARAT YATRA
DELIBERATIONS BJP endorses PM Modi’s schemes of demonetisation and GST rollout
DWARKA/JAMNAGAR: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi began on Monday his Gujarat campaign with a three-day road trip through politically crucial Saurashtra, a Patidar community heartland that has been a stronghold of the ruling BJP for almost three decades.
Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who is spear heading the community’s demand for reservation in education and government jobs, welcomed the Congress leader to Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Congress ke rashtriya upadhyaksh Rahulji ka Gujarat mae hardik swagat hai…,” tweeted Patel, a bitter critic of the state’s BJP govt. Rahul started the day by offering prayers at the popular Dwarkadhish temple.
Tolerance is part of democracy but selective tolerance is not good for democracy. If there is no equality in raising the issue ... nobody has the right to raise it. AMIT SHAH, BJP president
NEW DELHI: Stoutly backing the Narendra Modi government on its performance in running the nation’s economy, BJP president Amit Shah attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday for his recent remarks on dynasty and said the Congress had always pursued the politics of “dynasty and appeasement”.
“Vanshwaad (promoting dynasty) has become the Congress party’s nature, which cannot be the nature of Bharat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started the politics of performance by ending the politics of nepotism, casteism and appeasement,” Shah said at a conclave of the party’s national executive here on Monday.
The deliberations at the party witnessed strong support for the NDA government’s economic policies, including demonetization and rollout of the goods and services tax, among others.
“Our analysis of demonetisation has been completely different from what has been projected. Our government has taken serious steps (against corruption) and obviously those who are at the receiving end will not support the move,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said at the end of the BJP conclave. Shah said that Modi has set six targets for New India by 2022— to eradicate corruption, terrorism, commu- nalism, poverty, achievement and filth from India. He said that Modi government has done in three years what the UPA government could not do in ten years. Citing instances of violence against BJP cadres in Kerala and West Bengal, the BJP president said that if some people thought that they would stop the progress of the BJP with violence, it’s “their misconception”. “The more the mud of violence will be slung at the BJP, the faster the lotus will bloom,” said Shah.
“Tolerance is part of democracy but selective tolerance is not good for democracy. If there is no equality in raising the issue of intolerance, nobody has the right to raise it,” added the BJP president.
Intensifying its campaign to expand its footprint in Kerala, where the party has accused the Left cadre of killing as many as 11 of its workers in as many months, the BJP will undertake a ‘Janaraksha Yatra ‘ from October 3 to 17.
Shah will lead the padayatra that is aimed at highlighting political violence in the coastal state, which was discussed at the meeting and found mention in a political resolution. The resolution passed at the meet said that the central government has delivered on its promise made to the people regarding corruption and black money. “In this context, the overwhelming public support for demonetisation needs to be underscored.
This one major decision has broken the backbone of the black market as well as the black money hoarders. This one major decision has secured unprecedented success in paving the way for strengthening the foundations of a transparent economy, it has also paved the way for honest,” it stated. Hailing the rollout of the GST, it said, “After demonetisation, this is the second historic step in the direction of reforms in the indirect taxes regime. Implementation of GST has increased ease of doing business in the country by resolving the problems faced by the trader community. Besides bringing in ease of business, the burden of taxes on items of day-to-day use has been considerably reduced.”