Rubbishing the Opposition Congress’ charge that the ruling NDA had failed to control inflation in the country, BJP’s national president Amit Shah said here on Friday that ever since the Narendra Modi Government assumed office, each Indian family was saving as much as Rs1,500 to Rs2,000 per month.
Addressing a news conference after reviewing the membership drive and other activities undertaken by the Maharashtra BJP for the past six months, Shah said, “When our Government assumed office, our major concern was to control inflation. In fact, controlling prices of essential commodities, petrol and diesel was a major challenge. I am happy to inform you that we have not only brought down the inflation to zero level, but we have also reduced prices of diesel and petrol at least on nine occasions. As a result, each household in the country is now managing to save anywhere from Rs1,500 to Rs2,000 per month”.
Shah, who spoke extensively on the achievements of the Modi-led Government during the past seven months, said that the new Government had already fulfilled some of its promises and it had prepared road maps for fulfilling some others, while in some issues it had addressed legal and administrative issues coming in the way of implementation of some major policy initiatives. Drawing a comparison between the economic situation that prevailed during the previous UPA regime and now, Shah said, “The inflation that stood at 7 per cent during the UPA regime has come down to zero during the past six months”.
“As far as the growth rate is concerned, the BJP went out of the Government in 2004, the growth rate we had achieved was as much as 8.4 per cent and when we took over the reins of the country from the UPA in 2014 the growth rate had come down to 4.6 per cent Which meant that the growth rate we had to contend with was almost half of what we had achieved in the past. I am more than confident that in another ten years, we would be able to take the growth back to the 8.4 per cent level,” Shah said.
listing Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, initiative to clean up the Ganga River, the decision to replace Planning Commission with Niti Aayog, Adarsh Gram Yojana as being some of the achievements of the Modi Government, Shah said that there was no policy paralysis in the Government which was the case with the previous Manmohan Singh Government.
“Our Government is moving in the right direction with a proper chain of command and ministries running independently. The Group of Ministers created during the UPA’s rule has been dismantled. The Prime Minister is involving secretaries and bureaucracy in taking quick decisions. These measures have brought about better coordination among various departments and ministries in the Government and rendered the decision-making process seamless,” Shah said.
Maintaining that the NDA Government had succeeded in winning the confidence of common man across the country, Shah said that the victories scored by the BJP in four States after the lok Sabha polls were an ample evidence to show that the people had begun to appreciate the performance of the Narendra Modi-led dispensation.
“We have already installed the BJP Chief Ministers in four States and are in the process of doing so in Jammu & Kashmir as well,” Shah said.