PM Modi sets the tone for 2024: Slams Oppn’s ‘Badshahi mindset’, says social justice not just a slogan for BJP

“People have already started saying that the BJP cannot be defeated in 2024. It’s true also. But we, being party workers, should win each and every heart. We should not limit ourselves to winning elections,” Modi said.

Targeting Opposition parties, the PM said the parties in power since Independence had not given up the colonial mindset and continued to treat people as slaves. “They always treated people with ‘Badshahi mindset’ and considered the people of this country to be slaves. In 2014, the people gave a call against it and made a ‘shankhnaad’ for a new India.”

Modi reiterated the accusation that the Opposition has been threatening to dig his grave and said, “The Opposition has become so desperate. They are sleepless after seeing the exposure of their corrupt activities and filled with frustration. They have become so desperate and hopeless that they see only one way ahead and started saying it openly ‘Modi Teri kabr khudegi’, they started threatening.”

But, the PM said, the BJP’s rivals had not realised that the people in the country — men, women, youth, backward classes, and weaker sections — stand firm to protect the party’s lotus symbol. He said the BJP would stand firm in its fight against corruption, nepotism, and law-and-order challenges.

With Hanuman Jayanti being celebrated across India on Thursday, Modi began his virtual address on Thursday with a reminder to BJP workers to draw inspiration from the Hindu deity who is known for his strength and devotion. “Today, India, like Lord Hanuman, is well prepared to fight the challenges lying before her. He never did anything for himself. But when faced with demons, he was harsh. So, we are also determined to fight dynasty corruption and law and order challenges. Our stand becomes harsh against these challenges. Like Hanuman ji, we have also identified our potential to fight the ocean of challenges before the country,” the PM said, adding that in modern language Hanuman’s attitude could be labelled as a “can-do attitude” and that the BJP workers possessed it.

With the BJP gearing up for electoral battles based on Modi’s popularity and the Union government’s welfare programmes, Modi said unlike the other parties social justice was not just a political slogan for the BJP. “It’s an article of faith for the BJP. Many parties had flaunted this slogan of social justice but served only the family and their interests. The BJP lives for social justice and sticks to it by every letter and spirit of it,” he said, listing welfare schemes such as free ration, Ayushman Bharat, and Jan Dhan Yojana.

The PM said the initiatives were designed and implemented with inclusiveness in mind. “For the Congress and other parties, their culture of dynasty, family politics, regionalism, and casteism was their identity. But the BJP’s political culture has been to take everyone along without discrimination. Others dream small and achieve even smaller but the BJP dreams big and achieves even bigger.”

According to Modi, the BJP has always derived strength from India’s democratic values. “ Our party and workers consistently derive strength and inspiration from democracy. We have since the very beginning have deep faith in the intellect and values of the people of this country which is itself the mother of democracy. This faith has been strengthening us every day. The BJP has taken birth from the womb of democracy, has been nourished and nurtured with the ‘amrit’ of democracy and has been deeply consecrated to strengthen the constitution and democracy.”

The PM’s remarks come at a time when the Opposition has consistently targeted it with accusations of throttling dissent. The second phase of the Budget session of Parliament, which concludes on Thursday, was washed out because of disruptions over the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he was convicted in a criminal defamation case. While the treasury benches were up in arms over comments on Indian democracy that Rahul Gandhi made in the UK, the Opposition pushed for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations of the Adani Group’s links to the PM and the ruling party.

Modi advised the party to prepare for the future by forming technology cells from the panchayat level to the level of Lok Sabha constituencies to monitor updates in modern technology. These cells, he said, should take advice from experts and conduct seminars. The party could also set up intellectual cells, Modi said. The PM also asked the party to work with the political parties of other democratic countries and learn from them. By the time the BJP completes 50 years, every Morcha of the BJP should ensure the participation of people from every section in every programme.

“We should celebrate our achievements but at the same time prepare for the next challenges also. All this should be done by sticking to the root values of the BJP and within the limits of the Constitution. We should not find solutions to our problems by borrowing ideas from outside, but from our roots,” he said.

Modi’s speech was screened at the BJP party office, at the Balayogi Auditorium in Parliament Library Building, for MPs, and 10 lakh places across the country where party leaders had gathered to listen to him. At the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party national president J P Nadda lauded the PM for leading the party to repeated electoral successes.