Need a ‘strong govt.’: Modi at BJP manifesto launch
PM says a stable government with a resounding majority is imperative in times of global unrest
Says the ‘Sankalp Patra’ promises a govt. that will fortify the nation’s economy and propel it forward
It is India’s time for exponential growth, reads a letter by Modi enclosed with the manifesto
On Sunday when the conflict in West Asia appeared to be escalating, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a “strong government with a full majority was necessary” in an uncertain international situation that exists currently, saying his government had time and again managed to bring back Indians stuck in conflict situations abroad.
Mr. Modi said this while releasing the BJP’s manifesto at the party’s headquarters, but avoided any explicit mention of specific international conflicts.
“Today, there is a cloud of uncertainty and tension looming over the world. There are conflicts everywhere. In such an hour of crisis, the safety of the
Indians living in conflictridden countries is our priority. In times of global unrest, the necessity for a stable government with an unequivocal majority in India becomes even more pronounced. The BJP remains dedicated to forming a government that will fortify the nation’s economy and propel it towards progress and development. This ‘Sankalp Patra’ from the BJP promises such a government. India, as a global ally, will persistently endeavour for the welfare of humanity. The Bharatiya Janata Party steadfastly takes bold and challenging decisions in the nation’s interest, prioritising the country over the party itself,” he said.
‘India’s time’
The BJP manifesto also contained a letter from Mr.
Modi addressed to the country, which expanded on this being “India’s time” for exponential growth, and on the international scene.
“During an address from the ramparts of the
Red Fort, I had said, ‘Yahi Samay hai, Sahi Samay hai [This is the time, this is the correct time]’. Today, many respected voices across the globe are also saying that this is India’s time. In fact, today India is seen as an important player in the global efforts to create a better future,” he wrote.
He added that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by him had positioned India as a “Vishwa Bandhu” (a friend to the world), but that it was also a government that could also take “big and tough decisions in the interest of the country”.
‘Universal friend’
The BJP’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls is entitled “Modi ki Guarantee 2024, committed to building Viksit Bharat by 2047”, and terms the section on foreign policy as “Modi ki Guarantee for Vishwa Bandhu Bharat” or the universal friend. It states that the Modi government has managed to evacuate 1.5 crore Indians stuck in conflict zones.
In it, apart from stating that the Modi government in the past managed to evacuate 1.5 crore Indians stuck in conflict zones, it is said: “We have established Bharat as a reliable, trusted and dependable voice globally in the last 10 years. We have demonstrated Bharat’s independence of thought and action for the benefit of humanity. Our humancentric worldview has helped to be a consensus builder, first responder and a voice for the Global South,” it adds.
Indian nationals were evacuated from warhit Ukraine and Israel apart from other conflict zones.
This comes as the Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday expressed serious concern at the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran and called for an “immediate deescalation, exercise of restraint, stepping back of violence and return to the path of democracy”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) from its manifesto that was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. The NRC was one of the prominent poll promises in the party’s 2019 manifesto. The 2024 manifesto, however, mentions “implementation of the CAA”.
“We have taken the historic step of enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and will implement it to confer citizenship to all eligible persons,” the manifesto said.
In 2019, the party manifesto said expeditious compilation of the NRC was necessary as “there has been a huge change in the cultural and linguistic identity of some areas due to illegal immigration, resulting in an adverse impact on local people’s livelihood and employment”.
It added, “We will expeditiously complete the NRC process in these areas on priority. In future, we will implement the NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country.”
While NRC was one of the poll promises in 2019, the 2024 one only talks of CAA ‘implementation’
SC orders
Assam is the only State where NRC, first compiled in 1951, was updated on the orders of the Supreme Court in August 2019.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on March 11 notified the CAA rules, which enabled the implementation of the Act, four years after it was passed on December 11, 2019 by both Houses of Parliament.
The CAA enables citizenship to undocumented migrants belonging to six nonMuslim communities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian — from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 and reduces the period to qualify for citizenship from existing 11 years to 5 years.
Fear of discrimination
There are fears and apprehensions that the CAA, followed by a countrywide compilation of the NRC will adversely affect Muslims as the CAA will come to the rescue of nonMuslims excluded from the register while the former will have to prove citizenship through documents.
In Assam, 19 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants have been excluded from the NRC. Around 11 lakh people of those excluded from the NRC are said to be Hindus who would benefit from the CAA by declaring that they came from Bangladesh before December 31, 2014.
As many as 83 people were killed in protest and riots from December 2019March 2020, in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Delhi after the CAA was passed.
After the violence, the government informed Parliament that “till now it has not taken any decision to prepare the NRC at national level” and denied that the CAA and the NRC are linked.