Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive Meeting
Panaji (Goa) 8-9 June, 2013
POLITICAL RESOLUTION
On May 22, 2013 the Congress-led UPA-II government completed four years in office. Self-certification and self-congratulation were the only noticeable features of this muted celebration. Its leaders had nothing tangible or worthwhile that might merit commendation. The environment was dominated by gloom, pessimism and negativity. UPA-II's only achievement appears to be that it has completed four years in office. As far as the people's judgment is concerned, this government has inflicted serious damage on the nation.
In the long list of crimes committed against the people of India by the Congress in the last four years, three stand out: obnoxious corruption; degradation of the economy; and a malignant assault on the federal spirit of our polity.
There has been monumental corruption, with scam following scam involving massive loot of public money, rank mal-governance and causing untold misery to the common man. The entire growth story of India is in doubt because of a leadership that is unsure and indecisive. This depressing combination has seriously dented the image of India.
DEFECTIVE STRUCTURE OF LEADERSHIP
The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is not the real leader of this government. He is merely in office, not in authority. True power vests with UPA chairperson Shrimati Sonia Gandhi, who has the last word on policy issues. For its future, Congress looks towards the heir apparent, her son. The woeful weakness of the office of Prime Minister in a nation like India is evident in the fact that senior ministers and party leaders routinely signal their obedience to dynasty by demanding that Shri Rahul Gandhi be declared leader and Prime Minister candidate for the next election while Dr Singh is compelled to seek, periodically, a certificate for his continuance from Shrimati Sonia Gandhi.
In fact, the President of Samajwadi Party, on whose crutches UPA-II substantially depends to survive, has publicly commented that Dr Manmohan Singh is not a strong leader and is not free to take decision. Despite being PM for nine consecutive years, Dr Singh has become synonymous with indecision, inability and silence at great cost to the country.
RAMPANT CORRUPTION IS UPA'S DEFINING FEATURE
The BJP has said repeatedly that Congress-led UPA is the most corrupt government since independence; each passing day only reinforces that impression. Bribery, kickbacks, gross financial impropriety and endless scams have become so common it is difficult to keep count. There is no guarantee that another major scam might not explode soon.
The arrogance of power has made Congress indifferent to popular outrage. It used each day in office to loot the nation's resources, whether in farmers' land, spectrum, or mines, even as individual ministers, encouraged by laissez faire freedom in corruption accumulated private bounties wherever and whenever they could. Just a few weeks ago, one Cabinet minister was forced to resign because a relative was caught by police soliciting bribes in his name. A second had to go because he was manipulating CBI evidence to disguise the Prime Minister's authorisation for the scandalous allotment of coal mines. Like a fish, Congress has begun to rot from head down. The family of the Congress president was involved in dubious deals on farming land. And the Italian police have mentioned the involvement of a "family" within the ruling hierarchy which has been allegedly paid off to obtain the Agusta helicopter deal.
This massive loot of public money has taken place because of patronage and involvement of people at the very top of the Congress pyramid. In coalgate, the biggest of these scams, involving loot of Rs 1.87 Lakh crores, the role of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh himself is under serious scrutiny because he was also Coal Minister when the scam happened. When the Supreme Court began to monitor the CBI investigation in coalgate, a former Law Minister and officials tried to interfere and change the status report to dilute evidence against the highest in the land, in this case the Prime Minister. Indians were also aghast to learn, in the past few weeks, that the highest posts in the Railway Board were being sold by the family of the Railway Minister. The PM and Shrimati Sonia Gandhi tried to protect this minister even in the face of national outrage, and they were compelled to resign only because of relentless public pressure and an assertive campaign by the BJP. The last session of Parliament was a complete washout because of the government's obstinacy in protecting the Law and Railways Ministers. curiously, two days after the session ended the two resigned. Such is the dismal record of political accountability within this UPA government.
The massive corruption in allotment of 2G licenses by the Minister of Telecommunications remains one of the most shameful stories in independent India; here too, the PM and present Finance Minister P. Chidambaram have a lot to explain. Shockingly, their role is not being investigated at all. Similarly, there is no investigation against Delhi Chief Minister Shrimati Shiela Dikshit despite the fact that the Shunglu Committee report has exposed her government's unsavoury involvement in the Commonwealth Games scam. Besides, the Delhi Lokayukta too has recently severely indicted the Delhi Chief Minister and yet brazenly, Mrs Dikshit has the gumption to say that corruption is not an issue in Delhi.
BJP is also concerned over the reported patronage and sharing of public dais by Delhi Chief Minister Smt. Shila Dikshit with person accused of terrorist attack on an Israeli diplomat.
The UPA government has done nothing to bring back black money, estimated at Rs 25 lakh crores, stashed away in foreign banks; or to pursue those who made money in the commercial allotment of prime land worth thousands of crores in the privatization of the international airport in Delhi; the Adarsh housing scandal; or those who took bribes in the Agusta helicopter deal. Shrimati Sonia Gandhi and her son maintained a conspicuous silence, particularly about the last.
In 2009, Shrimati Gandhi declared that corruption would be brought under control within a hundred days. Instead, it has become a cancer afflicting all parts of the body politic. It was only because of the sustained campaign by the BJP, inside and outside Parliament, the splendid initiative taken media and social organizations, and intervention by the courts that investigation is underway.
WEAKENING OF INSTITUTIONS
UPA has deliberately and consistently weakened and disregarded democratic institutions. This has been done in many ways, both overt and surreptitious. Among them is the quality of appointees to Constitutional and statutory offices. UPA is a minority government that owes its survival to CBI, which has become pliable and partisan. Congress uses a policy of carrot and stick to retain the support in Parliament, at decisive moments, of parties like Samajwadi and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Some appointments to august bodies like the Election Commission, National Human Rights Commission and CVC have been highly questionable. Legitimate concerns have been brushed aside with impunity. There have been instances where major appointments have been set aside by the judiciary. Senior ministers have publicly criticised CAG when it has stood up, with integrity, and done its duty by the Constitution and the people of India by exposing financial improprieties of this government. The manner in which the Congress tried to belittle the sanctity of an important Parliamentary institution like the JPC forced members of this body, cutting across party lines, to seek the removal of its chairman.
Immobilised by scandal, and bereft of national purpose, the Congress-led UPA has weakened India through a weak government. The erosion of India’s credibility is visible in the aggressive postures of some neighbours, while others treat our most important concerns, like terrorism, with callous indifference. Leaders of those malignant and militant organisations who perpetrated the unforgiveable assaults on Mumbai in 1993 and 2008 are safe in their sanctuary, while we shuffle out a response that can only be described as appeasement.
STATE OF ECONOMY
Statistics measure, but can never accurately convey, the painful impact of economic free-fall. We have witnessed since 2004 what can only be described as a decade of gloom. The charismatic leadership of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his wise, mature policies, set India on the path to high growth, poverty alleviation through higher national revenues, and the creation of an infrastructure for a modern economy. The Congress-led UPA has driven India into economic despond. Growth has slipped from 8.3% in 2004, when NDA demitted office, to a miserable 5% today. Inflation has robbed food from the poor and middle class, in both city and village. The whiplash of unemployment and under-employment has left scars on the minds of the poor. There is paralysis in decision-making, which has hurt the industrial sector immeasurably. There has been major growth in just one area: the wealth of those in power and their cronies.
Gross economic mismanagement and miserable governance by an "economist" Prime Minister has punctured and paralysed India's growth story. UPA inherited a growing and booming economy in 2004. The initial years of UPA showed growth because of the impetus of its inheritance. The unprecedented price rise during UPA years has caused immense hardship to the common man. The investment environment in the country has been strangled. One a showcase for the world, the Indian economy has lost its bounce and attraction. A reverse flight has begun in investment; Indian industrialists are finding better investment destinations abroad. Unemployment is rampant as job creation has taken a massive hit. Growth has plummeted to 5%, a stark statistic reeking of failure.
Even success stories such as telecom, power, national highways, rural roads and seaports have suffered setbacks under the UPA. The rupee has weakened to dangerous levels. A decision like the government's move to allow FDI in the multi-brand sector is a serious setback to domestic retail, manufacturing and consumers.
Agriculture is suffering because of policies that can only ensure calamity. The Indian farmer suffers from heavy debt; irrigation facilities are meagre. The agricultural growth rate in most parts of the country is inadequate. Farmer suicides continued unabated, and UPA remains an indifferent, heartless spectator. The agricultural growth that we see now is predominantly on account of significant growth in states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar.
Dr Manmohan Singh tried to explain this on the fourth anniversary of UPA-II by saying that the glass is half full. He forgot that Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee left him with a glass rising towards the brim. After nine years, that glass is full only of corruption.
ATROCITIES ON WOMEN
The sanctity and security of women has become extremely vulnerable under UPA. Gender atrocity has become the order of the day. Rape, gang rape, sexual assault, acid attacks have become commonplace. Popular protest forced tightening of the law, but its effect is still not being felt in real life.
BJP-LED NDA IS ONLY CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVE
BJP congratulates its State governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Punjab and Goa for a sterling performance that has won the hearts of people. These governments, alone or in alliance, have lifted millions from the degradation of poverty through economic growth and honestly-administered welfare programmes. They have ensured peace and harmony between communities. Every community, whether of the majority or minority religious or caste persuasion, is equal. The true meaning of secularism is sarva dharma sambhav. Our positive discrimination programmes have recognised hunger as the true problem that needs emergency attention; and our gender promotion programmes cut across every divide.
In contrast, the record of UPA is one of despair. The people are enraged by corruption, price rise, bad governance and the indifference of those in power. The BJP shall continue to serve the people by taking up their cause, and challenging this decrepit government. We promise the people that it shall restore our nation's pride in itself, and relieve our country from gloom and depression. It is a proven fact that NDA under the able leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken the country way ahead on the path of progress. We had converted the economy of scarcity into an economy of surplus. Connectivity was the watch word of those days. From telecommunication to highways we had successfully tried for integrating this great nation. Our credibility on the front of Good Governance is further consolidated by the performance of BJP-NDA states. Remember, all the important and prestigious awards for Good Governance, nationally and internationally; have come to our State Govts and we take pride in this fact.
The nation has been driven back to the edge of an abyss. In such a crisis, the defeat of the UPA is not merely a partisan wish, but a national responsibility.
The people have already decided to kick out the UPA and welcome the NDA. BJP is the vehicle for bringing this resolved into reality.
We must remember that since a BJP-led NDA is the only credible alternative to a defunct UPA we have an onerous responsibility. Dethroning this government that dithers is now our historic duty and we must discharge the same with all our strength.
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