Opposition wants to build their empire, we want to empower people: PM Narendra Modi
Taking a dig at opposition parties for their efforts to form a grand alliance against his party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the BJP is here to serve the country whereas on the the other side there are “opportunistic alliance, dynastic parties”.
The alliance against the BJP is a ‘short-term’ one, being done for the benefits of the respective parties. “They want to build their own empire but we want to empower people,” he said.
During an interaction with booth-level BJP workers from five parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu via video-conference, PM Modi said, “Unlike other parties, we are not in politics for divide and rule or building vote banks. We are here to serve the country in every possible way.”
“On one hand we have our development agenda and on the other, there are opportunistic alliance and dynastic parties. This election is an opportunity for us to take the agenda of development to new heights. On one hand, we have our development agenda and the vision of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’. On the other hand, there are opportunistic alliance and dynasty parties,” he said.
“In the BJP one only needs hard work, not big wallets, high birth or loyalty to one family. We are proud that a party with two MPs (to start off with) is ruling so many states and is running the government at the Centre,” PM Modi said. He said that the BJP’s success has “naturally angered so many people who have done nothing but done negative politics,” and have been abusing both the party and himself, the prime minister said.
“But they should not underestimate the people of India. Our friends in the opposition are anyway a confused lot. They leave no opportunity to say PM Modi is bad, the government is not working, people dislike the BJP…The first thing that they do is make opportunist alliance with parties they disliked till recently and still do perhaps,” he said, without naming anyone.
“If PM Modi is so bad, the government is not working and if the people dislike the BJP then why build these alliance. Should you not be confident about yourself. The truth is they know it is a working government, that the poor of India, the youth of India, the farmers of India and the women of India have a strong bond with the BJP.”
“Hence, for their own existence they are making a short-term alliance,” he said during the interaction with party workers from Mayiladuthurai, Sivaganga, Perambalur, Virudhunagar and Theni parliamentary constituencies as part of his ‘Mera Booth, Sabse Mazboot’ (My booth is the strongest) initiative.
PM Modi’s comments come a day after the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party announced their alliance for the coming Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh in a bid to counter the saffron party.
To a question on GST, he said that the government has from day one of its roll-out been saying that it will improve the new taxation system as “we move ahead” and recalled the various sops being given from time to time, including the latest one where the exemption for suppliers for registration and payment of GST has been raised from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.
“This will help a large number of MSMEs. Free accounting and billing software will also be provided to taxpayers. Making business easier also means devoting special focus where it is needed,” PM Modi said.
“It would be have been tough to imagine India will one day leave even China behind in attracting foreign direct investment. Let me tell you, India has already surpassed China in 2018 in FDI,” the prime minister said.
