Shimla: Marking eight years of BJP led NDA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday allayed any concerns about the security of the country’s borders.
The Prime Minister said that before 2014 there was concern about the country’s security. “Today there is pride about surgical strike, air strike. The country’s borders today are more secure than before,” said Modi.
After leading a road show that was telecast live in poll bound Himachal Pradesh and other parts of the country, the Prime Minister was addressing a large gathering at The Ridge ground.
Hitting out at the earlier Congress led UPA coalition government the Prime Minister said that it had compromised with corruption.
“Before 2014, headlines were dominated by corruption and open loot,” said Modi adding, “along with the government, even the people had come to accept corruption as an integral part of governance.”
“Lootne ka khula khel chal raha tha,” he said.
Speaking about deploying technology to root out corruption, the prime minister said, “success of direct benefit scheme had minimized the scope for corruption,” even as he announced the release of Rs 21,000 crore to about 80 crore farmers across the country as an instalment of a direct transfer Kisan Samman Nidhi government scheme.
With the advent of NDA government, “times have changed and there is zero tolerance to corruption today,” said Modi, “we removed 9 crore fake names from the list of beneficiaries of various schemes.
He claimed that the NDA government had been able to plug a leakage of around Rs 2.25 lakh crore that by way of corruption would find its way into the hands of middlemen and dalaals.
After virtually interacting with beneficiaries of various government schemes, the prime minister in his address at the Garib Kalyan Sammelan meet said “130 crore people of this country are my family and I have devoted 8 years to good governance and for the welfare of the people.”
Earlier, breaking the security protocol, the Prime Minister stepped out of his bullet proof car and walked on The Mall Road, making a direct connect with bystanders who shouted slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, union minister for sports Anurag Thakur, state urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj walked alongside the prime minister from the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) building to Rani Jhansi Park, a distance of over 500 meters.
Elections to the state assembly of Himachal Pradesh are scheduled to be held along with Gujarat, the home state of the Prime Minister, by November. BJP hopes to retain power in Himachal, something that neither BJP nor Congress – the two mainstream parties in the state, have been able to do so in five decades.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
