‘Nation to be free of corruption by 2022’
NEWDELHI: As it sets out to design the contours of a ‘New India by 2022’, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has set itself the ambitious task of ridding the country of poverty, terrorism, casteism, communalism and corruption.
On Monday, a political resolution, passed at the party’s national executive meeting, underscored the need for eradicating the five ills, particularly terrorism and corruption, to help India emerge as a new nation by the time it completes 75 years of Independence.
The course for this transformation will be anchored in the ‘Sankalp se Sidhi’ programme, which is based on the premise that if 125 crore Indians adopt the pledge of ‘new India’, “nobody can stop it from becoming a reality”, union minister Nitin Gadkari told mediapersons.
He said the party, led by PM Modi, was committed to making India poverty-free by 2022, offering all citizens a house to live in, proper healthcare and education and opportunities for self employment.
“The sign of a good society and a prosperous nation is cleanliness.
The PM has shaped the Swacha Bharat Abhiyan as a public movement by connecting it with moral responsibility of every citizen,” Gadkari said.
The party’s zero tolerance towards terrorism was iterated at the meeting, which witnessed a special presentation by general secretary and in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Ram Madhav on the government’s initiatives to weed out terrorism.
Party sources said the BJP, which runs a coalition government in the disturbed state with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is keen to rebuild ties with the people in the state even as it sets about plugging channels that sponsor terrorism.
The party, which has often been accused by the Opposition of being anti-dalits and other minorities, is also making a concerted effort to shed that tag.
It reiterated that there is no rethink on the reservation for SC/STs and OBCs in educations and job sectors; instead the government is keen to give the national commission for OBCs more teeth by way of constitutional status.
Gadkari pinned the blame on the Opposition for throwing a spanner in the works, by stalling the passage of the OBC Commission bill in the Rajya Sabha.
Communal harmony is also on the agenda as is the fight against corruption.
The BJP’s campaign ahead of the 2014 general elections had anti-corruption as a poll plank. “We will get rid of the politics of vote bank appeasement and polarisation; and supporting and felicitating terror groups that was done in the country. In the past three years there have been no allegations of corruption against us,” Gadkari said.