Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday appealed to the people to take a pledge to use only “swadeshi” products and boycott any foreign-made products in their households. Speaking at a public meeting in Goa where he launched the state government’s ‘Mhaje Ghar Yojana’ and inaugurated several development projects, Shah said: “On this Diwali, we all should resolve that we will not bring any foreign product, which is not made in our country, into our house unless it is essential. If all the businessmen decide that only swadeshi products will be sold from their shops and malls and if 140 crore citizens buy only swadeshi products, then India will achieve the dream of becoming a truly great nation [Mahaan Bharat] soon. There is nothing greater than self-reliance”. Shah said granting ownership rights of houses under the ‘Mhaje Ghar Yojana’ to lakhs of citizens of Goa, who had been entangled in different types of legal complications, is a major step toward empowerment. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the target to become ‘Viksit Bharat by 2047. “I have been coming to Goa for the past 15 years. The way so many schemes and development projects are being implemented here and things are getting resolved, it will not take till 2047…Goa will be fully developed by 2035-37,” he said. Shah said, “On the first day of Navratri, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates on 395 items to less than one-third, which has benefited the people of the country substantially. The GST on several food items has been reduced to zero and slashed to five percent for items in daily use. Since independence, no government has dared to make such a large tax reduction. This is why this Diwali will be auspicious for all the Indians.” Taking a dig at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Shah said: “When BJP started winning in Goa consistently, the Congress said Goa is a very small state. Kharge sahab, the state may be small or large, but the citizen who lives there is an Indian… Goa is like a bindiya on Bharat Mata's forehead”.
