MODI AT BJP NATIONAL COUNCIL

"Rajnath Singh was the captain of the team that led us to victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Amit Shah was the man of the match. Had Shah not been given the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh, the country would not have known about his immense skills. I have known Shah personally for a long time. He will perform to his potential in his new responsibility and I have no doubt about that. His speech in the morning showed how the party and the government can collaborate together for the progress of the country. I can assure our new party president and our patriarch LK Advani that the government will leave no stone unturned to follow the path as shown by them," Modi said in his speech.

"The preparation to the Lok Sabha 2014 polls began with a question who knowsNarendra Modi outside Gujarat? The political pundits also had a tough time to keep tab of the fast changing events. When I had started talking about 300 seats during the campaign even my colleagues wondered why I was talking about figures. But as a person who was involved in serving the people for long I knew about the political mood. People were always willing to give but no one had the courage to ask for it before," the prime minister said.

During his speech Modi not only gave an idea about his experience as the prime minister but also mocked Congress for demanding results in such a short notice.

"Most of my time in the last two months went in cleaning and changing the work culture. Those who could not do anything in the last 60 years have already started making a noise asking for results in 60 days. I can assure you that the experience that I have gathered in the last 60 days have given me enough confidence that we can fulfill what we had promised. Isn't it great that most of the things promised in our manifesto have found place in the first budget itself and we already have a road map for them?" the prime minister asked.

In course of his nearly 40-minute speech, Modi admitted that the sweeping mandate has made his job comparatively easier than a coalition government would have.

"It is always comfortable to work in a government that has got absolute majority. I have realised that our absolute majority has also forced other countries to change the way they look upon us. They do not see us in the manner anymore that they had seen us when there was an alliance government. The world recognises that this government has come with a sweeping mandate," he said.

The prime minister also strongly defended India's stand at the WTO and said that he cannot seek positive media reports in the Western media at the expense of his poor countrymen. He also attacked the previous UPA government for bowing down to international pressure.

"For us the country is more important than the party. On the WTO issue, we have chosen a path where there will be food on the plate for the poor and allow our farmers to survive. We have chosen a path where the foreign media won't write accolades about us but instead took the right decision for our country. I am horrified that a party which had asked for votes on the basis of food security bill had signed an agreement in the WTO that was completely anti-poor," Modi said.

Not taking the name of any other political party, the prime minister also expressed disappointment over the frequent communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh.

"The BJP cannot accept any incident that disturbs peace. Unity and peace are the pre-condition for development. The parties which had lost so badly in the recent polls are still clinging on to their vote bank and divisive politics. BJP will not allow that and will go forward taking every one along," Modi said. His words assume significance as Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly blamed the BJP for causing communal divide ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls which are couple of years away.

The prime minister also wanted the BJP to become a party with a difference in the crowd of many political parties.

"There should be at least 100-200 BJP primary member in every polling booth of the country. There should be horizontal and vertical development in the party. In this crowd of political parties, BJP has to come out as a party of difference. There should be thematic years for the BJP where in each year the party will create awareness about an issue of national interest. For instance, we can take energy saving as a theme in one year. We will go to every household and explain why India needs to save energy and save on the massive amount of money that goes out in importing crude oil and coal. For our party, the bars of performance are set high and the scrutiny is strict. But we are ready to accept the challenge," Modi said.

Giving his observations how the nature of democracy in the country should be, he said, "There is need to take representative democracy forward as a participatory democracy. Each and every worker of the party is worthy of praise for the brilliant results in the recent Lok Sabha polls. All must realise that we are not saplings but a banyan tree that can offer shadow to many. Our mantra is move forward constantly without rest serving the nation."

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