Highlighting the contributions and role of Congress Party, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad said that country has witnessed all round development under Congress Party and that India has grown taller in stature due to policies pursued by it.He said that inspite of challenges on internal and external front, India could continue its march on the course of progress and development in the past sixty five years and has emerged as a serious player in the regional and international arena.Ghulam Nabi Azad was addressing a number of public meetings in Sholapur and Nanded Constituencies of Maharashtra, where he is campaigning for Congress Party.
“We are very proud to have taken country forward on the course of progress and advancement due to the visionary and farsighted policies of our Prime ministers right from Pt Nehru to Dr Manmohan Singh”, asserted Azad.
Reacting to what he called unwarranted criticism of the Congress Party that nothing has happened in sixty years in this country, Azad asserted that this is not only unfair and untrue, but it is actually disrespect to the people of this country who have been electing Congress Party repeatedly.He further said that our country has made enviable progress which even our worst enemies and the entire globe is acknowledging, but it is unfortunate that our own Prime Minister is still not able to accept the reality., adding that people of the country are aware of the facts and that they cannot be misled perpetually.“Prime Minister and BJP must realise that we have handed over a very strong country to them which is on the threshold of becoming a world power, and this obviously could not be achieved with mere change of guard in Delhi or in a few months”, said Azad.
Hailing the momentum given to all round development during UPA I & II as unprecedented, Azad said that such rapid growth has never been witnessed by the country earlier and that all the sectors of the economy were received focussed attention under the leadership of Smt Sonia Gandhi.“The flagship programmes like NRHM, SSA, RMSA, RUSA, JNNURM, UIDSSMT, MGNREGA, PMGSY, NRLM, RAS etc generated a momentum in the process of development and progress in the rural as well as urban areas of the country”,said Azad adding that Infrastructure development received tremendous attention with the establishment of state of art airports, ports, highways, dedicated freight corridors, exclusive economic zones, IT Parks, Food Processing Parks, etc.
Azad said that country witnessed infrastructure building on a huge scale during the ten years of UPA Government.Coming down heavily on BJP, Azad said that the digital revolution which the BJP and its leadership is talking about is actually the outcome of the vision of our late Prime Minister Sh Rajiv Gandhi and it is due to such visionary policies that India has emerged as one of the most important players in the world.Asserting that the Congress Party with an unwavering committment drove this country on the path of democracy, secularism and constitutionalism during the last sixty years, Azad said that given the authoritarian and sectarian agenda of BJP, one wonders if India would have continued to be a democracy governed by rule of law, had BJP ruled this country for such a long time. (KNS)