PM Modi asks partymen at BJP leaders' conclave to remain focused on development-centric politics

Mukesh Ranjan

Jaipur, May 20

Exhorting party leaders at a conclave here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked them to reach out to people showcasing development-centric politics, as for the BJP “power is not an end but means” to serve.

Addressing the gathering of national office-bearers and BJP state unit chiefs through video-conferencing, Modi impressed upon leaders and workers that they should not deviate from this path despite various kinds of enticements and provocations by political opponents and media.

“You remain on the path of antyodaya shown by our founding fathers. All of us should work hard for the success of various welfare schemes of the government. Because this is the only way we can eradicate corruption from the system,” the PM said.

Hitting out at the political opponents, Modi said they had the habit of exploiting “occasional and marginal” fissures in society for their petty political gains. “The BJP is not static, it is like a flowing river and, therefore, while adopting newer and modern things, it never gets disconnected with the country’s ‘puratan’ values and traditions,” he noted.

Lambasting political opponents for practising “dynastic politics”, the prime minister said, “For such people public life is for the family, of the family and by the family.”

Claiming that this system existed in the country for a major period after Independence, Modi said this stopped India from realising its true potential.

The PM, however, asserted that things changed since 2014 and people at large took the responsibility of becoming driver of this change. “They have been repeatedly reposing faith in us. Fulfilling their aspirations is at the core the government and the party. This throws up newer challenges in front of us and we need to make efforts without getting tired,” he noted, while adding that “for BJP, politics is not all about profit and loss”.

The prime minister also asked the fellow partymen to remain “relentless and restless as our focus is to make the country and fellow citizens realise their optimal potential”.

He said, “I am proud of you, as you are filled with these qualities and I am sure we can succeed in making India ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’.