BJP has faced more adversities in independent India as compared to what Congress would have during the British rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today and lamented that every effort of his party was seen in "bad light".
Asserting that BJP has made more sacrifices than any other party, Modi, who laid the foundation stone of the new party headquarters here, said fissiparous forces have become more active as the country's strength has grown and it is now more imperative to ensure that the society is strengthened and becomes more harmonious.
Underlining his party's commitment to take everybody along with the motto of 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas', he asked party workers to present to the country and the democratic world an example of how a party "devoted to ideals and devoid of dynasty" functions as the world knows the saffron outfit "not the way it is but based on hearsay".
"BJP will be the only party which has faced adversities since its birth. It faced difficulties at every turn and its every effort was seen in bad light.
"Even during the British times, the Congress party would not have faced so much adversity that we, our dedicated workers have gone through in 50-60 years," he said at the event attended by top BJP leaders including party chief Amit Shah, L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley among others.
During the recent West Bengal assembly polls, it was difficult for the BJP candidates to even hire an office in Kolkata as anybody willing to given them space would face trouble, he said in an apparent attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress.
"No party has perhaps made more sacrifices than us (BJP) after freedom," he said, adding that "hundreds of" its workers were killed because they were not associated with the prevalent ideology of those times.
BJP workers do not work for crowd but for organisation as "anybody can collect a crowd by talking about populist issues but what is more important is to stick to ideology", he said.
In a lighter vain, he said election candidates of no other party would have forfeited more deposits than those of BJP as they kept fighting for their ideology irrespective of the results.
Modi used the occasion to congratulate grappler Sakshi Malik for bringing glory to the country by winning a bronze medal in the Rio Olympics.
Noting the global research bodies began studying Jana
Sangh, the BJP's forerunner, when it came to power in Madhya Pradesh in 1969, Modi said, "The world was surprised again over how much we had grown when the government of Vajpayee ji was formed. They tried to know us from the people, so they could never know us correctly. The world's curiosity has arisen again now."
Ruing the lack of recorded materials like photographs about important events associated with party leaders through its history, he said it is the need of the time to record everything related to the organisation's activities.
Stressing on party leaders' commitment to ideology, Modi said rival parties would certainly have thought that they will be served well if likes of L K Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Murli Manohar Joshi joined them, but these leaders decided to live for ideals.
The Prime Minister said that training workers of the party in its ideology and work culture is a challenge with its membership growing to over 11 crore and added that its new headquarters, which will be equipped with modern communication and recorded history of the organisation and its leaders, will play a role in its future success.
"This party has not grown due to some leader, prime minister or chief minister but due to its lakhs of dedicated workers," he said, adding that the new office spread across two acres will not be dedicated to political interests but national interests.
The construction of this office is not merely about a building but it will smell of the sweat of party workers, he said.
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Modi said the kind of humiliation BJP leaders suffered in
the past cannot be imagined and noted that the party would not be given space to open offices.
"BJP is concerned not merely about competing with other political parties. BJP instead will show the country and the world as to how an organisation works without any dynasty, while keeping its faith in democratic values and being dedicated to ideology," he said, adding, "We will build the nation with a new thought."
On the occasion, school children tied rakhi to Modi and other BJP leaders.
"We have advanced the budget by a month. We are thinking
of taking it further," he said.
There is a need to look at the transport sector in an integrated manner, the Prime Minister said.
Modi also spoke of the ambitious multi-purpose and multi-modal platform, PRAGATI, aimed at addressing the common man's grievances and monitoring important programmes and projects and revival of stalled Centre-state projects.
"Under the Pragati programme, so far Rs 8 lakh crore- -worth projects which were pending have got the push," he said.
