Economists
accept possibility of our slogan of fully developed
India by 2020: Advani
Mumbai, Dec 26:
Bharatiya Janata Party President Shri L K Advani in his
opening remarks at the National Executive Committee meeting
in Mumbai said that the six years of NDA rule (1998-2004)
helped India become a nuclear power and the economy has
undergone a metamorphosis. The National Executive Committee
is being on the occasion of the silver jubilee of the
party.
Shri Advani added, “The NDA’s Slogan that
we shall make India a fully developed country by 2020,
which at one time seemed a tall order, is now acknowledged
by all economic analysts as being within the realm of
possibility.”
He said that in the last 25 years the single party dominance
of the Congress Party has been smashed and that the BJP
has made spectacular strides and converted India’s
polity into a bipolar polity, with BJP and the Congress
as two principal poles of national politics.
The BJP President recalled the first session of the party
held in Mumbai in 1980, when ten of thousands of delegates
had assembled and the session had left Mumbai fired with
enthusiasm and confidence.
“And together,
we have really made history. The Lotus has bloomed with
splendour and fragrance beyond anyone’s imagination.”
Shri Advani identified 12 defining years in his political
life covering over half a century.
The Jana Sangh was launched by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji
in 1951; Dr Mookerjis’s martyrdom 1953; assassination
of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya; imposition of Emergency
and anti-Emergency movement in 1975; installation of Janata
Government after a landmark Lok Sabha election and end
of Emergency 1977; formation of the BJP in 1980; assassination
of Smt Indira Gandhi in 1984; Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath
to Ayodhya 1990; the BJP becomes the largest party in
the Lok Sabha and Shri Vajpayee forms the government 1996;
NDA government is formed with Shri Vajpayee as Prime Minister
in 1998; NDA faces an unexpected defeat in 2004 and in
2005 a six-day visit to Pakistan; during which he is asked
to ingugurate a project for the restoration of Katsaraj
temples of the Mahabharat era.
Shri Advani said that the party succeeded in forming the
government at the Centre, in 20 years of its formation
due to “our faith in ourserselves, our dedication,
discipline, commitment and hard work; our determination
and the desire to work for making India a great nation.”
He described the last 25 years as a period of learning
for him.
Eom
Atul Shah
In-Charge Media Cell
Rajat Jayanti Adhiveshan
