Defence Minister Rajnath Singh challenges Opposition to dispute BJP’s claim of fulfilling all promises

Coming out in fulsome praise of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule at the Centre, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on February 22 said the BJP fulfilled all the pre-election promises it made to the people over the course of its decade-long tenure at the helm.

Speaking at the BJP Karyakarta Sammelan in Odisha, which is set to go to polls for the Assembly later this year, the Raksha Mantri said the BJP was the only party that came forward to change the face of national politics at a time when it was facing a “crisis of confidence and credibility”.

Addressing party cadres at the event on February 22, the veteran BJP leader said, “We belong to a party that does what it says. For the first time in our history, a party came forward accepting the challenge to change the face of Indian politics at a time when it was facing a crisis of confidence and credibility. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi to took this challenge head on. Our politics does not divide people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. Our politics is founded on justice and humanity.”

In a swipe at the Congress, he said the grand old party took the country and their level of politics to a point where the people lost confidence in leaders and elected representatives. “During Congress rule, people would often say politicians make a lot of promises before the polls but seldom kept their word once the votes were cast,” the BJP leader said, in a dig at the Congress.

“I wish to tell the Opposition: if you wish to test our credibility, check all our past manifestos and assess if we kept our promises to the people. We have fulfilled all the pre-election promises that we made. In 2014, when I was the BJP president, PM Modi urged me not to make any promises that cannot be fulfilled. In 2019, PM Modi said I should be made the president of the party’s Election Manifesto Committee. We said we would abrogate Article 370 and now the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is governed by the same laws as other states. When we said we would end Triple Talaq, some leaders in the Opposition said mixing religion with politics would create chasms in the society,” the Defence Minister said.

Reiterating that the BJP refrains from divisive politics, he added, “Our brand of politics is founded on the ideas of justice and humanity,” he added.

(with inputs from ANI)