Darbhanga, Feb 28 (PTI) Addressing a rally here on Wednesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the BJP ended the “crisis of credibility” in Indian politics by fulfilling the promises it made to the people.
Calling for support for the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Singh also talked about the Modi government conferring Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur, and alleged he was neglected by the Congress.
“In Congress’ time, only one family got all the honours. Our prime minister also gave Bharat Ratna to P V Narasimha Rao ji, who was a Congress leader. We honoured his contribution,” Singh said.
The senior BJP leader said his party does what it promises.
“We do what we promise. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the election manifesto was being drafted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji used to regularly remind me that I should take utmost care of the fact that none of the promises we cannot fulfil should find a place in the manifesto,” he said.
“In 2019, Modi said the same thing. You can pick out both manifestos and see for yourself whether we fulfilled the promises we made or not,” he said.
“Since 1951 when we were working as Jan Sangh, we used to talk about removing the Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. We did what we said. We said we would abolish triple talaq, we did so,” he said.
Singh also referred to the movement undertaken by the BJP for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
“When the movement was going on for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, I led a group of kar sevaks as the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). I also had to go to jail for this movement. Today, a grand Ram temple has been constructed in Ayodhya,” he said.
Singh said that since 1984, the BJP had been saying that when it gets an opportunity, a grand Ram temple would be built in Ayodhya. The opposition used to mock us that we don’t tell the date when the temple would be built, but now everyone knows the date of January 22, Singh added.
“When the Congress was in power, they used to say that they will eradicate poverty. But they failed to do so. Whereas under the leadership of Modi ji, 25 crore people have come out of poverty in ten years. Poverty cannot be eradicated by giving speeches,” Singh said.
Singh also said that the annual defence exports have increased to Rs 20,000 crore from Rs 1,000 crore.
“When I became the defence minister, there were defence exports from India worth about Rs 1000 crore. Now it has exceeded Rs 20,000 crore. Defence production worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore is taking place in the country,” he said.
Singh called upon people to vote BJP to power again.
“I will tell you why you should cast your vote in favour of the Bharatiya Janata party. You might say that everyone appreciates its party and the government and I am doing the same.” he said.
“But, this is not the case. Here many intellectuals are sitting. I am saying that if you don’t agree with what I am saying you can publicly challenge me,” he said.
He said that there is a reason why he is saying that the track record of the BJP government has been excellent. “Around 10 years have passed since we formed the government. You have seen the working of previous governments also, especially the Congress government,” he added.
“In all previous Congress governments, some or other allegations of corruption have been made. But under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, noone can dare make an allegation (of corruption) against our government,” he added. PTI