Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda on April 18 hit out at the Opposition for "bitterly" resisting the "development politics" of the BJP ever since it came to power at the Centre in 2014.
In an open letter to 'fellow citizens', Nadda said the results of the recent Assembly polls in five states should be an "eye-opener" for the "rejected and dejected" parties urging them to stop taking refuge in vote bank and divisive politics.
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"Indian politics has undergone a rapid transformation in the last eight years (since 2014 when BJP came to power at the Centre). The tried, tested, or I should say dusted and rusted approach of vote bank politics, divisive politics and selective politics is no longer working," Nadda said in the letter.
Nadda’s letter comes two days after leaders of 13 Opposition parties, in a joint statement, while expressing concern over the recent incidents of communal violence urged people to maintain peace and harmony and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence to speak out against those who ‘propagate’ hate.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas', every Indian is being empowered and getting the wings to rise further, Nadda said hitting out at the Opposition for waging a "direct onslaught on the spirit of our nation and cast aspersions on our hardworking citizens."
"In the last few days, we have seen these parties come together yet again in letter (whether in spirit too, time will tell) in which they have waged a direct onslaught on the spirit of our nation and cast aspersions on our hardworking citizens," the letter reads.
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Nadda listed communal riots and violence incidents that have taken place under previous Congress and Opposition-led governments across the country. “In November 1966, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi opened fire on Hindu sadhus sitting outside Parliament who had marched towards Delhi with the demand of banning cow slaughter in India,” he said.
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"Who can forget Rajiv Gandhi’s infamous words ‘when a big tree falls, the Earth shakes’ that justified the killing of thousands of Sikhs in the wake of PM Indira Gandhi’s death," the BJP President wrote.
Nadda also asked questions about the recent violence in Congress-ruled Rajasthan. "I want to remind the rejected and dejected political parties, since you talk about vote bank politics, why have you forgotten the shameful happening in Karol, Rajasthan? What are the compulsions that are driving your haunting silence on the issue?" he said.
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The BJP chief mentioned Gujarat in 1969, Moradabad in 1980, Meerut in 1987, incidents against Hindus in the Kashmir Valley throughout the 1980s, Bhagalpur in 1989to name a few, as incidents of communal violence during Congress rule.
"Under which government did the Muzaffarnagar riots happen in 2013 and in Assam in 2012?" he asked.
Citing recent wins for the BJP in four of the five states that went to polls, Nadda said it was due to the BJP that India was seeing a sentiment of pro-incumbency where development politics is being rewarded.
"The BJP also became the first party in many years to cross the 100 figure in Rajya Sabha and get absolute majority in UP legislative council. The opposition should introspect why the parties that ruled the nation for so many decades have been confined to the margins of history now," he said
Nadda said today when people across faiths and age groups and walks of life have come together to defeat poverty the Opposition needs to change track and embrace the “politics of development”.
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