BHOPAL: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday released a detailed report card of more than 18 years of BJP rule in Madhya Pradesh.
While releasing ‘Garib Kalyan Mahabhiyan Report Card 2003-2023’, Shah credited the BJP governments in the state and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for 'removing the tag of ‘BIMARU’ (laggard category) from the state'.
He dared the Congress and its key leaders, former CMs Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh to release a similar detailed report card on decades of Congress rule in the past.
"Since 1956, when a separate MP state was created, to 2003, barring for five-six years, MP has largely been a Congress-ruled state. MP being bracketed among the BIMARU states, was a legacy of the Congress regimes of the past. But it was the BJP governments, first headed by Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur and later for over 16 years by incumbent Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan which removed the tag of Bimaru from MP. This period is a golden period in MP’s history. We appeal to the nine crore people of MP to rely on us and help build MP into a completely developed and self-dependent state in the next five years,” Shah said while sharing comparative facts and figures of various parameters of development of the pre-2003 era and the 2003-2023 period.
Shah said BJP wants development to take center-stage in the upcoming polls as the Congress party has traditionally pushed dynastic politics, casteism, and appeasement politics into every poll.
“We’ve released report cards of our successive governments, now the Congress, instead of misleading people on other issues, should respond to our development card. I dare them to come out with a report card of their decades of governance, including the 15 months of Kamal Nath government, when political vendetta was taken to tehsil level, the Gariba Kalyan schemes of our governments were either stopped or crippled, and rampant corruption and flourishing transfer industry were established,” he said.
Later, when journalists asked who will be the CM if the party is again voted to power in MP, Shah said, “Right now, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is our CM, we’re now into elections. Now, allow the party to do the remaining work.” When queried on the BJP giving tickets to sons, daughters, and daughter-in-law of its senior politicians in the first list of 39 candidates released recently, Shah said, “Don’t dilute the issue of dynasty politics by raising the fielding of a few candidates on the basis of their merit. For us, Parivar ki Rajniti (dynastic politics) means ownership of a political party or government by a single family, which is clearly visible in parties, like Congress, SP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav), and the DMK.”
When asked why despite being in power at the Centre, the probe into scams allegedly involving Congress leaders and kin, like the Agusta Chopper scam with which Kamal Nath and kin have often been linked by the BJP, the home minister said, “We haven’t initiated action in corruption cases based on political vendetta. The probes are underway, which are best exemplified by Congress leaders often alleging misuse of agencies. The pace of probes is based on the rules and procedures of courts. If this question asked to me is sponsored by Kamal Nath Ji, then he has made a mistake by getting it asked, as it may raise the pace of the probe.” After releasing the 2003-2023 BJP regime’s report card of MP in Bhopal, Shah attended the concluding session of BJP’s expanded state working committee in Gwalior.
