Driving the chariot

The dream that great leaders like founder members of Jan Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Jagannath Rao Joshi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, among others, had for a prosperous India, developed India and empowered India has been realised by the 21st century megastar Narendra Modi in just eight years of prime ministership.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has engaged in the service of the nation with a dedicated spirit to remove the darkness of corruption from the corridors of power and politics in the country and to bloom a lotus full of happiness in the lives of the people. First under the leadership of Amit Shah and now Jagat Prakash Nadda, the BJP is realising the visions of Prime Minister on the ground. Narendra Modi, playing the role of a charioteer in the 'Rath Yatra', taken out to protect the Indian identity, culture and national heritage, has established India as a strong country on the global stage.

Carrying the 'solution' of the country's developmental issues on his shoulder, Narendra Modi has acted like a youth, for whom the famous poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan had written, "lakshya ke upar jadi aankhein, bhala kab dekh patin, saaz dharti ka, sajeelapan gagan ka". On the foundation day of Bharatiya Janata Party, the leaders and workers of the party are all happy and joyous. Due to the devotion of the BJP towards the service of the nation, the sun of development and public welfare has risen in the country today. Today, the countrymen are also enthusiastic and are feeling proud of themselves.

Owing to years of hard work and dedication, today, India has become resplendent like the sun on the world stage. Looking through the pages of history, we find that even after independence, a large population of the country was not able to experience freedom in the true sense due to poverty and backwardness. Even after the end of the slavery of the British, there was darkness in the corridors of power and politics of the country. At some time, an emergency was imposed in the country, on another instance, after losing to China we were forced to leave our land in the hands of enemies. Thanks to the principles of Panchsheel, China became entitled to veto power in the United Nations, and even a small weak country like Pakistan, by engaging in diplomatic tricks, took control of a part of Jammu and Kashmir.

Not only this, the countrymen were forced to depend on foreign countries for food grains, medicines, vaccines and new technology. All the leaders of Jana Sangh, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vijayaraje Scindia, Sikandar Bakht, together formed the Bharatiya Janata Party on April 6, 1980, to bring the country out of this dark-age. In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP registered its presence in the Parliament by taking two seats. The caravan moves forward slowly. The 'Rath Yatra' from Somnath to Ayodhya proved to be a turning point in the BJP's journey from two seats to form a majority government at the Centre. In 1988, in the Palampur National Convention of Himachal, BJP put the Ram temple issue in front of the country, prominently on the theme of cultural nationalism and cultural freedom. Welcoming the countrymen, in the Lok Sabha elections 1989, the BJP became the number two party in the country.

Understanding the aspirations of the people, a 'Rath Yatra' was taken out on September 25, 1990 under the leadership of LK Advani for the construction of Ram temple. In this Rath Yatra, Narendra Modi was playing the role of a charioteer. For which it was written, "Yug ke yuva, mat dekh dayein, aur bayein, aur peechhe, jhaank mat baglein, na apni aankh kar neeche, agar kuchh dekhna hai, dekh apne wo hrishabh kandhe, jinhe deta nimantran, saamne tere pada yug ka jua". And, while keeping silence, the charioteer, observing and understanding every incident in the political scene in detail, accepted the challenges and stepped forward. After this 'Rath Yatra' in 1996, a 13-day government was formed under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Then in 1998, a 13-month government was formed. Then came the time when Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed the BJP-led NDA coalition government in 1998 and got the credit for running the first non-Congress government in the country for five years.

During the tenure of the Vajpayee government, keeping in mind the public sentiments, the nation was empowered by conducting the Pokhran nuclear test, implementing Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Golden Quadrilateral National Highway, etc. The concept of public welfare and economic development was implemented on the ground. A new impetus was given to the development of the nation. During this, Atal Bihari Vajpayee made Narendra Modi, who was the charioteer of LK Advani's Rath Yatra, as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001. In the year 2014, the BJP elected Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, for the post of Prime Minister. By registering an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha for the first time under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the BJP government was formed with an absolute majority. In view of the dedication and responsibilities towards the work of Narendra Modi, who became the charioteer of development, the people once again gave full majority to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. After getting support from the public, the BJP went ahead with its five principles of nationalism, national integrity, democracy, positive secularism and politics based on moral values.

In just seven years, the pair of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah brought the concept of 'self-reliant India' to the ground with 'Acche Din'. In view of national integrity, peace was established in Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 and 35-A. After terrorist incidents like Pulwama and Uri, the Indian Army entered the enemy's territory and eliminated the terrorists by conducting surgical strikes and air strikes. To remove religious social evils, as per the order of the Supreme Court, Muslim women were given a life of respect by bringing triple talaq law in the Parliament. At the same time, after the decision of the Supreme Court, the construction work of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya started. Implementation of GST under 'One Nation One Tax' pledge brought economic uniformity in the country, and this reduced tax evasion. Free food grains have been given continuously for the last two years to the poor people who are in trouble due to the pandemic. At the same time, the economy of the country was kept intact by giving special packages to small and medium industries, also including big industries. As a result, international experts have estimated the country's economic growth rate to be 9.2 per cent. Due to the foreign policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India attained a unique identity on the global stage. Be it the Afghanistan crisis or the Ukraine crisis, due to better international diplomacy, India has made its presence felt in the global sphere.

The writer is BJP's National Media Co-Head, National Spokesperson and Member of Bihar Legislative Council. Views expressed are personal