BJP chief Amit Shah says achche din won't come in just five years. Party says media twisted his remarks.
Narendra Modi may have promised to deliver achche din (good days) to the nation in his first term as prime minister, but, a year into office, his own party’s president seems to disagree with the rhetoric.
Asserting that a mere five-year rule by his party cannot take the country to the top of the world, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah has clarified that it will take up to 25 years for the achche din promise to be achieved.
Achche din was the pride that India enjoyed before the British Raj, Shah was quoted in media agencies as saying at a mass contact programme in Bhopal on Monday, adding that the BJP would need to win elections at 'every level' of the state machinery to regain that admiration.
He, however, stated that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government can reduce inflation, ensure secure borders, make a strong foreign policy, achieve economic development, provide jobs and remove poverty.
On Tuesday, however, the BJP claimed that Amit Shah's statement had been twisted by the media, and urged the latter to be 'more responsible'.
"Amit ji said that to make India the best in world -- to make it the number one nation -- more than five years are needed. The media twisted Amit ji's statement. This is an attempt to defame and target the BJP and we condemn this attempt. The media needs to be more responsible," BJP leader Shrikant Sharma said.
"Improving infrastructure, connectivity and so on can be done in a few years. But if one wants to transform the nation into what was envisioned by leaders like Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, it takes time," BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi added.