BJP President Amit Shah today attacked the previous UPA dispensation on the issue of border security, saying anybody could have "humiliated" the country's borders during the government of "Gandhi Parivar" but the Narendra Modi government has secured the borders.
"This government has protected the country's border. There was a time when UPA government was here for 10 years. There was a government of Sonia (Gandhi) and Manmohan Singh. There was government of 'Gandhi Parivar'.
"Anybody could humiliate country's borders (at that time) at one's will," he said while addressing a function to mark the Punjabi Suba golden jubilee here today.
Shah asserted that in the last two and half years of Modi government, things have changed.
"Today, the whole world has come to know that nobody could dare to see with ill-will at the borders areas of India. If anybody tries to show animosity (on border), a befitting reply is given in order to ensure country's security," said Shah.
The BJP chief also dwelt on the achievements of BJP led at the Centre after taking over the reins in 2014.
"This government has worked the most for the welfare of farmers after country's Independence. New plans are brought for the welfare of poor, Dalits and economically backward. This government has set a tradition to ensure the gains of the plans reach the beneficiaries and as a result of which, there is a wave of change in the country," he said.
The BJP President also asked people to vote for the SAD-BJP alliance for further development of the state while cautioning voters not to get swayed by the opposition parties including Congress.
"People of Punjab have to decide to whom they want to bring to the power for next five years. One side, there is an Akali-BJP alliance which has been working for three decades and other side is Congress and some new parties.
"One side, we are proud of the sacrifices of Punjab's youth and those who participated in the fight for country's freedom ...And other side are those who are defaming Punjab's youth by calling them drug addicts (nasheri) and seeking mandate for Punjab," he said.
"Those who cannot be proud of Punjab's youth and bravery do no deserve any right to seek vote," he said.
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"The declaration of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 being no more
legal tender is going to be a game changer which has already started showing its results," Prasad added.
Following demonetisation, the backbone of hawala industry besides terrorism and Maoist extremism is almost broken, he claimed.
"There are credible reports that even human trafficking for forcing young girls to become sex slaves has also been seriously incapacitated as all this was cash-based. These developments along with lowering of interest rate is going to further accelerate growth rate," he claimed.
The country's largest lender, SBI, has reduced marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 0.9 per cent from 8.90 per cent to 8 per cent for one-year tenure, the bank said in a statement.
Flushed with funds after demonetisation, the base interest rate for other tenures, including one month, three months and six months, has been slashed by 0.9 per cent.
MCLR has been reduced by 0.9 percentage points to 8.10 per cent for two-year term and 8.15 per cent for three-year tenure.
Other public sector lenders Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Union Bank of India (UBI) too have brought down the benchmark interest rate by up to 0.9 per cent.
