Congress government didn’t develop border areas due to weak foreign policy: J P Nadda

 OUR CORRESPONDENT

NAMSAI: BJP president J P Nadda on Saturday attacked the Congress, alleging that the governments led by the grand old party did not want to construct roads in the border areas of the country due to its weak foreign policy. The Congress, during its long rule, did not want to upset the neighbouring countries by creating infrastructure in the border areas, Nadda claimed while addressing a public rally of the BJP here in Arunachal Pradesh. “The best defence for the Congress party is not to develop border areas, as it may create more trouble for the government,” he said. The Narendra Modi government “handled the Ladakh standoff with strong hands and sent a clear signal to China,” he said. The entire world now accepts Modi as a powerful leader because of his “strong foreign policy”. The rally was organised on the occasion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and seven years of the Pema Khandu government in the state.

Referring to the government’s zero tolerance for terrorism in the country, Nadda said the Prime Minister executed the surgical strike on Pakistan, sending a strong message to the country against cross-border terrorism. Nadda, who is on his maiden visit to the northeastern state, said that Arunachal Pradesh has always inspired him as the people of the state are patriotic and act as sentinels of the border. “The people exhibit their patriotism by greeting all the people with ‘Jai Hind’ for which I salute them,” Nadda added. Nadda said that though he is happy to see the developmental initiatives in Arunachal Pradesh, he is equally sad because the strategic state has been neglected by the Congress for decades. “The northeast gained importance after Atal Behari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of the country. The work initiated by Vajpayee for the region was executed by Prime Minister Modi, who proved that the northeast is not far from New Delhi,” the BJP president said. Modi has visited the northeast more than 50 times and Arunachal Pradesh more than five times in the last nine years, which was never witnessed by any other prime minister of the country.

The former union health minister added that from 1947 to 2013, only 30,000 kilometres of roads were constructed in Arunachal Pradesh, but under the Modi government, more than 20,000 kilometres of roads were constructed in the state. “In the northeast, work on seven new airports is going on, and more than 54,000 km of roads have been constructed in the region in the past nine years,” he said. Lashing out at the Congress for alleging a price rise in the country, Nadda clarified that India is the fastest-growing economy in the world, with its GDP standing at 8.7 per cent, much higher than various developed countries. “Inflation in India stands at less than 4.24 per cent and price rise increased by a slight margin of 2.91 per cent in comparison to other developed countries,” he said, adding that the poor index in the country has reduced to less than ten per cent from 22 per cent in 2014.

“Earlier, the world used to club India and Pakistan together, but today India has gained its own popularity in the world, leaving Pakistan alone,” he added. Referring to the ‘Made in India’ mission of Modi, Nadda disclosed that till 2014, India exported 95 percent of its cellular phones to China, but today the country produces more than 97 percent of its cell phones. “As many as 95 percent of defence procurements in the country are made by Indian companies, which were earlier procured from foreign countries,” Nadda said, adding that India has transformed itself into the fifth largest economy in the world.

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