The Political Resolution was moved by the Union Road Transport Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari and it was seconded by Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Defence Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, former Railway Minister Shri Mukul Roy, Health Minister of Assam Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma and Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Keshav Prasad Maurya at the BJP National Convention on 12 January, 2019 in New Delhi.
The Political Resolution said, “India has transformed into a major global power, whose voice is heard with respect and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acknowledged as a global leader. All this has happened because of hard work, overpowering commitment and good governance ensuring development in various fields. India, today is the fastest growing major economy and being recognized for its emphasis on inclusive development. Perform, reform and transform has become the cornerstone of development. Even the global institutions are affirming the extraordinary success of India’s story. In this journey of development every section of society is feeling empowered, realising the core development philosophy of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”.
We are publishing the full text of the Political Resolution for our esteemed readers.
It has been more than four and half years that India is being governed by the Bhartiya Janata Party led NDA under the inspiring leadership of Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi. In this term, India has transformed into a major global power, whose voice is heard with respect and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acknowledged as a global leader. All this has happened because of hard work, overpowering commitment and good governance ensuring development in various fields. India, today is the fastest growing major economies and being recognised for its emphasis on inclusive development. Perform, reform and transform has become the cornerstone of development. Even the global institutions are affirming the extraordinary success of India’s story. In this journey of development every section of society is feeling empowered, realising the core development philosophy of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”.
Contrast this with the critical situation India was facing when Narendra Modi took office as the Prime Minister, four and half years ago. The country was facing severe crisis on many fronts. Indian economy was struggling with the high inflation (10.4% along UPA II) and low growth (6.4% in 2013-14), investor confidence was at an all-time low, international credit rating agencies had downgraded the rating of Indian economy. India was seen among the Fragile Five economies of the world. Indiscriminate lending by banks under political pressure caused huge Non-Performing Assets for the banks. Corruption was at its peak and the country was facing policy paralysis. Credibility of Indian economy at global stage was very low. Policy paralysis and series of scams had seriously clouded the image of India. The morale of security forces was low and senior ministers and leaders of the Congress Party and UPA were not only showing sympathy towards the terror accused for vote bank politics but were shamelessly equating proud saffron heritage of India with terror. It was in this dismal scenario of hopelessness that National Council of BJP was held in this very Ram Leela Maidan nearly five years ago when we all pledged to unfold a road of hope for India under the inspiring leadership of Narendra Modi.
Poor at the Center of Development:
On being elected as the leader of the Parliamentary Party after his historic win Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a very moving declaration. He said, “My government will work for the poor and will remain committed for their well-being”. In the last four and half years the far reaching welfare programs for the poor implemented in a time bound manner has brought smile and hope to them. The extraordinary success of the Jan Dhan Program where a record 33 Crore poor people were included in the formal banking network. Linking these accounts with the Aadhaar digital platform and mobile and consequent direct benefit transfer of Rs.5.50 Lakh Crore into the bank accounts of the poor under various welfare entitlements and resultant saving of Rs. 90,000 Crores which used to be pocketed by middlemen and fictitious claimants represent new milestone in the field of inclusive development. Out of these 33 Crore bank accounts 53% account holders are women and 59% are in rural and semi urban areas. The World Bank Findex Report 2017 has rightly appreciated Jan Dhan Yojana as the world’s largest financial inclusion program.
India’s growth story under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had certain defined goals such as banking the unbanked, funding the unfunded, securing the unsecured and pensioning the un-pensioned. More than 20 Crore poor people have been offered financial security under schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti BimaYojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana.
Extraordinary success of MUDRA Yojana, where 15.33 Crore people availed Rs. 7.29 Lakh Crore loans to improve livelihood and business, has encouraged entrepreneurship and empowerment. What is very assuring to learn is that among MUDRA beneficiaries nearly 74% are women and SC/ST entrepreneurs.
6 Crore poor families have been given LPG connection under the highly successful Ujjwala Yojana. Under the biggest health care scheme Ayushman Bharat 10 Crore poor families are to get medical insurance cover upto Rs. 5 Lakh per year for treatment in any hospital. In little over 100 days of its launch, 7.03 Lakh poor patients have been given free of cost treatment already. Programs like Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), which aim to make 6 Crore rural adults digitally literate and the wide network of more than 3 lakh Common Service Centers including in more than 2 lakh Gram Panchayats are giving new momentum to digital delivery of services and empowerment for the poor, under-privileged and rural people.
It is a matter of great pride that under a mission mode programs all the un-electrified 18,000 villages across the country have got the facility of electric connection. 1.5 crore houses for poor families have been built under Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana.
All this indicates the fulfilment of the promises in a very substantial measure, which the Prime Minister had made regarding welfare of poor.
Swachh Bharat As a Mass Movement:
The Prime Minister led from the front in making the Swachh Bharat Mission a great success. His government rightly recognised that absence of clean toilets and open defection were the cause of many problems including health hazards. From 1947 till 2014 nearly 6.5Crore toilets were constructed in rural areas whereas in the last four and half years 9.67 Crore toilets got constructed. This one statistics explains the transformation. Sanitation coverage has also increased from just 38% in 2014 to 98.49% in 2018.
Empowering Women:
Narendra Modi government envisaged a model of women led development. Historic initiative of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has found appreciation world over. This has led to clear increase in the sex ratio in 104 identified districts of India. There has been an increase in enrollment of girls in secondary schools as well as improvement in institutional deliveries of children. 49.88 Lakh women have been paid maternity benefits worth Rs. 1678.33 Lakh Crore in less than a year. Historic decision to increase maternity leave to 26 weeks (6 months) has benefited the working women immensely and put India into the league of nations which offers the longest maternity leave in the world. Passport rules have been relaxed for single mothers.
Out of the 3 Lakh Common Services Centers across India, 60,000 of these centers are run by women village level entrepreneurs. Historic hike in incentives was given to Anganwadi and ASHA workers. For the first time women pilots were permitted to fly fighter jets in the Indian Air Force.
For providing safety and justice to women, death penalty has been provided for rape of girl child under the age of 12 years and minimum punishment for rape of a girl under 16 years has been increased from 10 years of imprisonment to 20 years of imprisonment. Muslim Women remained subjugated to archaic and evil practices. Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the evil practice of instant Triple Talaq a criminal offense with penal provisions. It is very regrettable that some opposition parties, particularly the Congress party is opposing such a progressing pro women law designed to give Insaaf to Muslim women from the scourge of Triple Talaq which even the Supreme Court has set aside. Noticing the vote bank driven opposition of the mainly Congress party to oppose its passage in the Rajya Sabha the ordinance has been approved again for giving justice to victim women. Muslim women can now perform Haj without any male guardian.
Social Justice for All :
Social justice and equitable growth is inherent in our philosophy of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. Legacy of Baba Saheb Ambedkar was given its due honor and made easily available to the youth of India but establishing Dr. Ambedkar International Center in Delhi and developing places associated with his life in the form of Panch Teerth.
Persons with disability were given their due respect as Divyang. Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan was launched for creating Divyang friendly infrastructure. Types of disabilities were increased from 7 to 21. For the first time speech and language disability, specific learning disability were added as disabilities. Victims of acid attack have been recognized as Divyangs. Reservation of seats for Divyang persons in higher educational institutions were increased to 4%.
For the welfare of Other Backward Classes, the Narendra Modi government gave Constitutional status to the National Commission of Backward Classes.
The historic initiative to provide reservation to economically poor people belonging to sections that were not getting the benefits of reservation till now, which also includes upper castes, shows the concern of the Prime Minister towards every poor and deprived person. This has been achieved without making any compromise with the existing quota of reservation presently being given to SC, ST and OBCs.
Harnessing Yuva Shakti :
To develop young India, Modi government initiated series of initiatives in the form of increase in educational institutions. 7 IIT, 7 IITs, 14 IIITs, 1 NIT, 2 IISER, 103 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 62 Navoday Vidyalayas were established during the tenure of Narendra Modi Government. In order to ensure fair and transparent conduct of examinations a National Testing Agency was created.
Under the Skill India mission, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 13,000 training centers across India have been opened to impart training in 375 trades, where 1 Crore youngsters have been given training. To increase this network, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras are being set up in every district of India.
The first Khelo India initiative saw participation of 3507 players from across the nation. A National Telent Search Portal has been launched to identify talented young sports persons.
By taking initiatives like Startup India and Standup India for the first time government has shown enormous faith in the entrepreneurial abilities of young people of India and used it for economic development and employment creation. It is indeed a matter of great assurance that today India has become the third largest startup ecosystem in the world with over15,500 registered stratups. Atal Tinkering Labs in schools are inculcating innovation culture in young minds from early days and promoting young talented innovators. These efforts have ensured that India has moved to 60th rank in Global Innovation Index in 2017 from 81st rank in 2015.
Employment Generation :
It is a matter of assurance that the Prime Minister himself has focused upon programmes which creates employment opportunities both in urban and rural areas. MUDRA Yojana and Standup India have made it easy for small entrepreneurs to avail easy collateral free loan for expanding small businesses. 15.26 Crore small and very small businesses have got Rs. 7.29 Lakh Crore as loans out which nearly 50% are those who have taken loans for the first time. This by itself created employment opportunities for Crores of Indians.
From just 83,000 Common Service Centers in 2014, there are 3 Lakh Common Service Centers today working in more than 2.10 Lakh Gram Panchayats of India. This has developed 3 Lakh village level digital entrepreneurs who have created employment opportunities.
Encouraged by the Make in India initiative, India is fast emerging as a center for electronics manufacturing. Production of electronics goods from India has doubled in last four years. India had only 2 mobile phone factories in May 2014. Today there are 127 mobile phone factories working from India. India now has the distinction of having the world’s largest mobile phone factory, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All these have created employment opportunities.
Indian IT industry has been providing direct and indirect jobs for millions of people out of which nearly one third are women employees. To promote IT industry in small town and offer IT jobs to the youth of small towns, India BPO Promotion Scheme and North East BPO Promotion were introduced. Today 260 BPO units are working from towns like Guwahati, Imphal, Kohima, Muzaffarpur, Bareilly, Badgam, Srinagar, Sangli, Karimnagar, Guntur etc. This too has created jobs for the youth of India.
Recently released data of Employee Provident Fund Organisation clearly shows that under Narendra Modi government there has been tremendous boost to job creations.
The speed and scale with which transformative changes are happening in railways, expansion of airports and air services, National Highways and rural roads and other infrastructural projects is also creating large scale employment opportunities.
Technology Led Good Governance :
Programs like Digital India, Make in India, Startup India, Standup India, Skill India, smart cities are all technology based programs for transformation. Vision of the Prime Minister is being talked about across the world as a model of technology led good governance for improving the lives of citizens. By personally monitoring the developmental initiatives in 115 aspirational districts, which were lagging in various parameters the Prime Minister set a new governance standard of hope. In many of these districts fast tracking of developmental initiatives has started showing results.
Today technology led developments powered by information technology led services like e-hospital, soil health cards, e-Visa, e-scholrships, rural digital literacy etc. and the JAM trinity of Jandhan bank accounts, Aadhar identity and Mobile phones for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of welfare funds, which has resulted in a saving of over Rs. 90,000 Crore, are scripting a new inspiring vision of inclusive development.
Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leveraging this potential of India for making it a hub of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Robotics, Blockchain and Virtual Reality etc. Today India has emerged as a major digital economy and it is expected that in the coming five years, it will become a trillion-dollar digital economy.
Rapidly Developing Infrastructure :
Infrastructure development, which suffered due to corruption and policy paralysis during UPA regime, got a new lease of life under Narendra Modi government. Average speed of rural road construction has gone up from 69 Kms per day in 2013-14 to 134 Kms per day in 2017-18. Expenditure on road construction increased from Rs. 32,483 in 2013-14 to Rs. 1,16,324 in 2017-18. Coverage of rural roads, which was only 56% in 2014 has increased to 91%. India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge- the Bogibeel Bridge connecting Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was inaugurated.
In addition to road connectivity, extraordinary expansion in air and rail services and exploring waterways with new commitment are helping create a new identity of infrastructure The benefit of these services have percolated to the lowest strata of society and to the remotest parts of the country. To promote digital connectivity, 300,000 kilometers of Optic Fibre Network (OFN) have been laid linking more than 1 lakh gram panchayats, while in case of UPA, only 358 kilometers of OFN was laid.
From Fragile Five towards Sixth Largest Economy of the world :
In 2014, India was considered among the fragile five economies. With nearly double-digit inflation, high fiscal deficit and current account deficit, low investor confidence and sluggish GDP growth. Today, India’s GDP in the first half of 2018-19 grew at 7.6%, fiscal deficit is well within the budgetary target of 3.3%, inflation never crossed 5% during Modi government and has rather remained around 3% to 4%, highest ever foreign direct investment of $ 61.96 billion was received in 2017-18 and foreign exchange reserve is soaring. In the Ease of Doing Business Index of the World Bank, India moved from 142nd rank in 2014 to 77th rank in 2018.
Bold moves like demonetization has hit the age-old problem of parallel economy and domestic black money. The government took courageous decision like de-registration of 3.26 Lakh shell companies. Number of Income Tax payers who filed return in 2013-14 were only 3.82 Crore which has nearly doubled to 6.86 Crore in 2017-18. Income Tax collections, which was only Rs. 6.38 Lakh Crore in 2013-14 increased to Rs. 10.02 Lakh Crore in 2017-18. India witnessed the biggest tax reform since independence in the form of roll out GST, which was pending for many years. Total number of taxpayers registered under GST increased to 1.13 Crore in July 2018. This is an addition of 49.53 Lakh new taxpayers into taxation system. Rates of GST were continuously rationalized based on the feedback from citizens and today 95% of the items are well below 18% slab. To help the small traders in the remotest parts of the country the exemption limit in GST has been liberalized form the existing Rs 20 lakhs to Rs 40 lakhs.
Digital payment saw unprecedented boost under Narendra Modi government, making the Indian economy more formal, transparent and robust. BHIM-UPI, which is a unique fin-tech innovation of India, offered an easy to use mobile based digital payment option to common citizens. BHIM-UPI transaction which were only Rs. 50 Crore in October, 2016 hit an all time high of Rs. 1.02 Lakh Crores in December, 2018. Now Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), pensioners, MGNREGA wagers etc. are able to withdraw money from their bank accounts in their villages, without any need to visit bank branch.
Crackdown on Corruption :
One of the biggest changes in the Modi government as compared to the governments in past has been crackdown on corruption. UPA government set new records in scams but on the contrary there is not one allegation of corruption against Narendra Modi government. That is why in a desperate attempt to put at least one blemish on the clean governance provided by Narendra Modi, the Congress Party concocted the lies about Rafale. The falsehood propagated by Congress party in this connection was also repudiated by the Government of France. The Supreme Court examined various aspects of Rafale deal and gave a clean chit to the Government and decided that there was no commercial bias and Air Force needs it to upgrade its strength. It is very disturbing to note that a party like Congress which has ruled the country for so many years is making serious compromise with national security when the Air Force urgently needs fighter aircrafts. The UPA during ten years of its rule delayed such acquisition on one pretext or other. It is too well known that the Congress record in defence acquisition is full of murky deals.
Sincerity of the Modi government to crack down on corruption was evident in the first Cabinet Meeting, which decided to set up a Special Investigation Team on black money. Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 was brought. Real time data sharing agreement with Switzerland was finalized. Prevention of Money Laundering Act was amended to enable confiscation of property equivalent of value of black money stashed abroad. Benami Property Act that was passed by the Parliament in 1988, was notified only in 2016. Tribunals for Speedy Disposal of Benami Property was set up. Fugitive Economic Offenders Act to empower Government to confiscate assets of economic absconders was brought, which has led to high profile players being declared as fugitive, who were beneficiaries of the UPA regime, by getting various benefits from the banks inspite of their questionable record. Diplomatic and legal efforts to bring back fugitive economic offenders are yielding good results now. Middlemen involved in various defence deals were extradited and now are in jails in India.
Transparency in auction of Telecom Spectrum and Coal blocks led to record collection of revenues. Interviews in non-gazette posts were abolished. Online applications made mandatory for all clearances. Time taken for environmental approvals brought down to 180 days from 600 days.
Indiscriminate lending by banks to businessmen during the UPA government led to very high amount of Non Performing Assets (NPA) for banks. Between 1947 to 2008 total loans given by banks were to the tune of Rs. 18 Lakh Crore. But total lending by banks between 2008 to 2014 increased to Rs. 54 Lakh Crore. Phone banking flourished during UPA tenure and banks gave loans to industrialists under political pressures and this was the biggest scam of UPA. Government led by Narendra Modi inherited bank NPAs and made efforts to recapitalize the banks. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was enacted to recover money from defaulters. Nearly Rs. 3 Lakh Crore have been recovered in last two years after implementation of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Globally Rising Stature of India :
India, which was being seen with hopelessness by the global community around 2014 due to corruption and poor policies of UPA government, has emerged as a major global power today. The world looks at India with hope and promise today. India is expected to lead the global economic growth. Efforts made by Narendra Modi government led to declaration of 21st June as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations. Today India’s age old tradition of Yoga is being practiced world over with great enthusiasm. India affirmed its commitment towards climate change and success of Paris Agreement, even though major economies like USA withdrew from this. India took a first of its kind initiative of International Solar Alliance, with its headquarters in Gurugram, to promote use of solar energy across the globe.
A bold and confident nation, under a courageous leader, decided to carry out surgical strikes to curb incidents of terrorism from Pakistan and also succeeded in diplomatic isolation of Pakistan in the world. The strong and stern action of security forces in Kashmir has forced the terrorists on the run. The number of districts controlled by maoists have come down drastically and the firm handling of security measures in the country has surely weakened drastically the striking ability of the terrorists. India also joined the Missile Technology Control Regime, which will help in boosting its security needs. In the world of space technology ISRO set many milestones. World praised India when it launched a record 104 satellites in one go. India also became the first Asian country to launch a Mars Orbit Mission called the Mangalyaan.
Today Indians across the world are feeling far more confident and secure as they know that Government of India is caring for them even while they are far away. The global stature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the personal warmth he has introduced in the diplomatic discourse has also enhanced the stature of India.
Choice between stability or instability, between an honest and courageous leader, and a leaderless opportunistic alliance- a ‘majboot’ government or a ‘majboor’ government:
We note with a mixed feeling, the recent results of Vidhan Sabha elections in different states. The National Council compliments the hard work of the Party workers in each state. All the BJP state governments have given exemplary record of development and good governance. We shall surely draw the right lessons but surely this will serve as an inspiration for the party workers and cadres to work with renewed vigour in the Lok Saha elections.
Today a comical alliance known as Maha-Gathbandhan of desperate, contradictory and opportunistic political formations is being sought to be raised to take on the Prime Minister, the BJP and the NDA. They neither have any program agenda for India or for the people of India nor any leader but the only glue is the hatred against Narendra Modi. This in many ways also exposes the limitations of the constituents of this opportunistic alliance. India of 2019 is not the India of 90s where the longevity of the Union Government comprising these desperate and opportunistic elements ranged from 4 months to one year. The choice today is between stability and instability- Effective governance or desperate mal-governance, a well-respected leader like Narendra Modi being opposed by an opportunistic alliance whose leader is unknown. It simply means choice between a majboor government or a majboot government, where national security, powerful surge of nationalism and growth of India remains the prime focus. We are sure that people of India will repose their trust in the BJP and NDA under inspiring leadership of Narendra Modi.
In the year 2014, the BJP was in power in 6 states. Today, in addition to ruling the country, the BJP has government in 16 states. In 2014, the membership of the party has 2 crore 40 lakh which has now risen to 11 crore. In the last four and a half years, the party has expanded a vast network of booth level organization in the far-flung areas of the country. The hard work of the party workers has strengthened the party and consolidated its appeal under the widely popular and inspiring leadership of Prime Minister Modi. The vision, the commitment, and the extra-ordinary record of good governance and development of the Prime Minister has found resonance with the people of India because of the hard work of the organization.
The people of the country are sure to re-elect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue with his work with renewed dedication. The BJP is determined to make this vision a reality in the coming elections. The party appeals to the people of India and also the millennial voters, who would vote for the first time to participate in the coming elections with full enthusiasm and support the vision of Prime Minister Modi to make India a great country.