'After independence, Congress party...': BJP chief JP Nadda at Labharthi Sammelan in Mumbai

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda addressed the Labharthi Sammelan in Mumbai on Thursday and took a jab at the grand old party saying that Congress discussed the welfare of the poor for a considerable amount of time, but little was done to address their issue while in power. 

Addressing the gathering at the Labharthi Sammelan in Mumbai, the BJP chief said, "Congress ruled the nation for a long time after the independence. They discussed the welfare of the poor too but nothing was implemented in reality."

"It is my good fortune today that I have had the privilege of meeting the beneficiaries and interacting with them. For this, I am grateful and would like to thank Maharashtra BJP MLA Tamil Selvan who has given me this opportunity," he said. 

Speaking further, he said, "Mitro, after independence the Congress party ruled the country and discussed the welfare of the poor for a long time but nothing was implemented in reality."

"The then Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru raised the issue of poverty 9 times from the ramparts of the Red Fort. He gave 14 speeches in which 9 times he raised the issue of poverty in the country. In India during that time, nearly 50 percent of people lived in poverty," he said. 

Thereafter Indira Gandhi took over as the Prime Minister and spoke about poverty 4 times in her speeches but under her leadership nearly 60 percent of people remained poor and inflation increased by 30 percent which means the situation of poverty worsened, he added.

The reason for the static development was that the leaders of that time would get votes in the name of the poor and would also care about the poor and create a slogan for the same without any implementation on the issue.

 "The leaders would conduct discussions on poverty while sitting in the drawing room and conference rooms but did not pay heed to how this plan would come to fruition. That is the reason the poor remained poor, the slogans for poverty kept becoming popular and poverty never left," said Nadda.

"After 2014, there was a huge difference. Prime Minister Modi empowered the poor and gave them a voice and power. When PM Modi became prime minister, he questioned why the poor people did not have accounts in the bank. How would the poor sustain accounts, if they did not have money to deposit in those accounts," said Nadda. 

"PM Modi said I will become a guarantee for the poor in the country and today over 55 crore have been opened in the banks. People also received a lot of help through their assistance from the government during the COVID period," said the BJP chief. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)