Congress is limiting itself to rhetoric: Smriti Irani

SHILLONG, MAY 29: BJP leader and Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani has expressed disbelieve over the claims made by the opposition Congress that it would come back to power at the Centre after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next year.

“Well I do politics from the region where the Congress president Rahul Gandhi does politics in Amethi and he has lost every assembly seat, every local election in the past 4 years. A person who is not guaranteed to come back from his own constituency what you think his chances are of coming back in the country,” Irani told reporters on Tuesday.

The union minister, who arrived in the state here to highlight the achievements of the BJP-led NDA government during the past four years, also accused the Rahul of giving speeches on development across the nation while in his own constituency he inaugurated a passport office initiated by Modi.

“When the foundation stone of the chief medical officer’s office (in Amethi) was laid it was Smriti, Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath who had gone there. The one who has not even open a district collector’s office, the same person is going out throughout the country giving speeches about development which is not good,” she said.

With the opposition parties have come out in unison criticising the Modi-led government and stated it has nothing to celebrate, Irani however said, “The BJP is coming with hard facts and the UPA right now is limiting itself to rhetoric. As somebody who represents the BJP, will I expect the opposition to be kind no, but I will expect them to look at the facts before themselves.”

The union minister further said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that the sun of development for new India will rise from the Northeast region.

“The PM has given special focus and made a clarion call for development of the Northeast region. He (Modi) is heading the NITI Aayog and the NITI Aayog Forum for the North East has been formed so that overall development of the region can be discussed and strategized,” she said.

She also said that the NITI Aayog Forum for the first time has been possible under the Modi government because this has never existed during the UPA time adding NITI Aayog becomes a platform apart from DoNER ministry for every programme.

Asked, Irani however said that the allegation that the Centre is proposing to do away with the North Eastern Council (NEC) is just a rumour and that she will not like to react based on rumours.

Stating that the PM speaks of new India that will not only develop women but focus more on women-led development, she said, “This is where women become the flag bearers of development. Our PM has commanded stringent action on violence against women where in the government has also passed the ordinance for death penalty for child rape.”

Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the union minister said within 48 months of the Modi government close to 31.52 crore citizens have open bank accounts in which the World Bank reported India accounts for 55% of newly open bank accounts between 2014 to 2017.

She also added that nearly 13.25 crore people are also ensured under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).

“Because of direct benefit transfer (DBT), the government has also managed to save over Rs 80,000 crore leakages which were enjoyed by middlemen,” she said.

On the achievement of the Swachh Bharat mission, Irani said over 3.60 lakh villages have been declared as open defecation free (ODF) and more than 7 crore toilets have been built. According to her, the total sanitation coverage in 2012 was only 38 per cent and this gone up to 83 per cent this year.

By Our Reporter