12-23-2007, 08:26 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Gujarat people have voted for development: Advani</b>
The BJP leader said, "The BJP's victory in Gujarat has highlighted six important lessons for the polity as a whole:
"1. Shri Modi has disproved the conventional 'wisdom' that good governance does not make good politics. Many practitioners and observers of politics believe that the voters are not swayed by the probity and integrity of leadership, clean and transparent administration, and a sincere attempt to break away from old ways of thinking and acting in government. Modi has proved that the people enthusiastically support a leader who delivers with this refreshingly new approach to politics. Thus, it was not the anti-incumbency factor that was at play in Gujarat; it was the pro-incumbency wave.
"2: Modi has disproved that elections cannot be won on a development plank. Even critics of the BJP have had to admit that Gujarat made impressive strides in the past five years in both economic and social development, even emerging as No. 1 on many counts.
"If massive investments in infrastructure development, mega-industrial projects, urban and rural development, trebling of agricultural income (from R. 9,000 crore to Rs 34,000 crore) in five years, and focus on e-governance (Gujarat is one of the best e-governed States in the country) told one part of the Gujarat story, the other part was told by the trend-setting Jyotigram Yojana (which brought 24x7 three-phase power to all the 18,000 villages in the State), Sujalam Suphalam scheme (drinking water provided to 5,000 villages and making the water-scarce state tanker-free), Chiranjeevi Yojana (which brought infant and maternal mortality rates down), Beti Bachao Andolan (which improved Gujarat's sex ratio from 802: 1000 to 870:1000 in just six years), Vanabandhu Kalyan Yojana (which benefited 6,000 tribal villages) and Sagarkhedu Yojana (a welfare scheme for fishermen in 3,000 villages along what is the longest coastline in the country).
"3: The BJP in Gujarat has disproved that elections can be won only by appealing to people's caste and community sentiments. We have demonstrated that divisive and cynical formulas of yesteryears such as KHAM, M-Y, etc can be defeated on the basis of a positive and socially unifying agenda.
"4: Fourthly, unlike in CPI(M)-ruled West Bengal, the BJP in Gujarat has proved that a renewed mandate can be won without terrorising and obstructing voters sympathetic to opposition parties, without 'scientific rigging' and without all the other electoral malpractices. In this context, I congratulate the Election Commission for their good job.
"5: The BJP's victory in Gujarat has shown that the people in the State have disapproved of political defections and also inner-party dissent amounting to indiscipline and defection.
"6: Sixthly, and this is most important, the BJP's victory is a victory against politics of vilification, negativism and arrogance. I cannot think of any other leader in Indian politics in the past sixty years who was as viciously, consistently and persistently maligned as Modi has been since 2002. The 'maut ke saudagar' slur is only the most recent addition to the ammunition of lies used by our opponents to slander the BJP and Modi, both nationally and internationally. The people of Gujarat have given a fitting reply to the practitioners of this kind of toxic politics. I appeal to the leadership of the Congress and other parties to abjure, at least from now onwards, this brand of politics. I hope they will introspect and learn the right lessons from their defeat in Gujarat," Advani said in his statement.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The BJP leader said, "The BJP's victory in Gujarat has highlighted six important lessons for the polity as a whole:
"1. Shri Modi has disproved the conventional 'wisdom' that good governance does not make good politics. Many practitioners and observers of politics believe that the voters are not swayed by the probity and integrity of leadership, clean and transparent administration, and a sincere attempt to break away from old ways of thinking and acting in government. Modi has proved that the people enthusiastically support a leader who delivers with this refreshingly new approach to politics. Thus, it was not the anti-incumbency factor that was at play in Gujarat; it was the pro-incumbency wave.
"2: Modi has disproved that elections cannot be won on a development plank. Even critics of the BJP have had to admit that Gujarat made impressive strides in the past five years in both economic and social development, even emerging as No. 1 on many counts.
"If massive investments in infrastructure development, mega-industrial projects, urban and rural development, trebling of agricultural income (from R. 9,000 crore to Rs 34,000 crore) in five years, and focus on e-governance (Gujarat is one of the best e-governed States in the country) told one part of the Gujarat story, the other part was told by the trend-setting Jyotigram Yojana (which brought 24x7 three-phase power to all the 18,000 villages in the State), Sujalam Suphalam scheme (drinking water provided to 5,000 villages and making the water-scarce state tanker-free), Chiranjeevi Yojana (which brought infant and maternal mortality rates down), Beti Bachao Andolan (which improved Gujarat's sex ratio from 802: 1000 to 870:1000 in just six years), Vanabandhu Kalyan Yojana (which benefited 6,000 tribal villages) and Sagarkhedu Yojana (a welfare scheme for fishermen in 3,000 villages along what is the longest coastline in the country).
"3: The BJP in Gujarat has disproved that elections can be won only by appealing to people's caste and community sentiments. We have demonstrated that divisive and cynical formulas of yesteryears such as KHAM, M-Y, etc can be defeated on the basis of a positive and socially unifying agenda.
"4: Fourthly, unlike in CPI(M)-ruled West Bengal, the BJP in Gujarat has proved that a renewed mandate can be won without terrorising and obstructing voters sympathetic to opposition parties, without 'scientific rigging' and without all the other electoral malpractices. In this context, I congratulate the Election Commission for their good job.
"5: The BJP's victory in Gujarat has shown that the people in the State have disapproved of political defections and also inner-party dissent amounting to indiscipline and defection.
"6: Sixthly, and this is most important, the BJP's victory is a victory against politics of vilification, negativism and arrogance. I cannot think of any other leader in Indian politics in the past sixty years who was as viciously, consistently and persistently maligned as Modi has been since 2002. The 'maut ke saudagar' slur is only the most recent addition to the ammunition of lies used by our opponents to slander the BJP and Modi, both nationally and internationally. The people of Gujarat have given a fitting reply to the practitioners of this kind of toxic politics. I appeal to the leadership of the Congress and other parties to abjure, at least from now onwards, this brand of politics. I hope they will introspect and learn the right lessons from their defeat in Gujarat," Advani said in his statement.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->