GUWAHATI: The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s triumph in the Lok Sabha elections, both in the country and Northeast, has been attributed to the policy of all-round development, nationalism and firm decision making.
Reacting to the party’s massive victory, BJP spokesperson for Assam, Pramod Swami in an exclusive interview with The Shillong Times here on Thursday said the outcome was on expected lines and more pleasant because after a long time an incumbent party has been given such an overwhelming mandate.
“If you analyse the history of Indian politics, it is after a very long period that an incumbent party has been voted to power so overwhelmingly. Unlike in the past polls, anti-incumbency was not a factor as people have approved Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s development-centric work,” Swami said.
The BJP leader said that since the party came to power primarily on its own strength five years back, helped the Prime Minister to take decisions on his own, which the public approved.
“For instance, post Uri and Pulwama, Modiji could take a firm decision in regard to country’s defence strategy. However, this was not seen when the Mumbai terror attack took place during the UPA regime. The earlier governments were coalition governments and hence, the leaders could not take decisions,” he said.
The fact that the Opposition Congress resorted to personal attacks, also backfired and in a way helped the saffron party.
“The ‘Chowkidar chor hain’ allegation by the Opposition backfired as the voters did not approve such a repugnant personal attack. Now the ones who have made the allegation have been taken to task. In a way, it was a warning by the electorate that if you do not have issues to fight an election and resort to such distasteful politics, you will be sidelined,” Swami said.
On why the anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill agitation before the polls did not become a big factor, given BJP’s emphatic win, Swami said that a majority of people have not quite understood the legislation.
“The Bill came into being in 1955 during the time of Jawarharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel making persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan eligible for citizenship after 11 years of application. We had only tweaked the period to six years and included Bangladesh. In the coming days, we will sit with our allies, discuss grievances if any and take it forward,” he said.
On NDA/NEDA making a big impact in Northeast, “We have ensured justice to all and appeasement of none. On the other hand, Congress had resorted to appeasement politics, which does not work, as the mandate proves.”
On the way forward, the BJP leader, quoting the PM said that the past five years were about fulfillment of needs and the next five would be living up to people’s expectations.
“Under Modiji, we want to establish India into a world power where there is development for all. We want to create more jobs, ensure education, health, sanitation among other basic needs. We want to take the momentum of parivartan (change) forward and make it a continued process,” he said.
