By releasing a ‘Visionless Document’, and not a Vision Document, the Congress party has proved its unworthiness to seek the people’s support in UP polls
The Congress party released its ‘Vision Document 2020’ for Uttar Pradesh with much fanfare yesterday. But even its cursory reading will show that it is a ‘Visionless Document’, and not a ‘Vision Document’. This conclusion will be further reinforced when it is compared with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vision Document and Election Manifesto.
Here are some striking points that show the utter poverty of vision in the Congress party’s ‘Vision Document’:
Power crisis in UP: Uttar Pradesh is currently suffering from a terrible power crisis. Daily power cuts for 10-20 hours are quite common in many parts of the state, especially in rural areas where 70 percent of the state’s population lives. All that the Congress party pledges to provide by 2020 — that is, after eight long years — is eight hours of electricity “to farmers in day time and to households at night time”. This means that, if the Congress party gets to rule UP, the state’s kisans, students, workers, artisans, doctors and nurses in hospitals will have to wait until 2050 for getting something as basic as 24x7 electricity supply.
In contrast, the BJP in its manifesto has promised 24x7 power supply in every part of Uttar Pradesh — “Sabko Bijlee, Sasti Bijlee, Chaubees Ghante Bijlee”. This is not an empty promise. The BJP government in Gujarat, under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, has translated its promise of 24x7 power supply into reality.
There is no mention whatsoever in the Congress party’s document about how it will achieve even the modest target of 8-hour electricity supply. In contrast, we have stated that we shall fulfill our pledge by (a) creating additional generation of 20,000 MW by establishing 10 ultra-mega power plants; (b) realizing the potential of producing at least 6,000 MW through bagasse-based cogeneration units in sugar mills; (c) increasing the Plant Load Factor in the existing thermal power plants from 45 percent to at least 80 percent; (d) vastly reducing transmission and distribution losses and power theft; (e) massively promoting solar energy in a decentralized manner.
‘New Green Revolution’: The Congress has promised ‘New Green Revolution’ in its Vision Document. It has also promised to increase the rate of growth of UP’s GDP to 9-10 percent. We would like to ask Congress leader Shri Rahul Gandhi: aren’t the goals of a ‘New Green Revolution’ and 9-10 percent SGDP laughable, when all that the Congress is promising by 2020 is 8-hour electricity supply?
Employment: The Congress party has promised to create 20 lakh new employment opportunities by 2020. In contrast, the BJP has pledged to create at least 1 crore new employment opportunities in five years. We have also indicated how this pledge will be fulfilled. It seems that the Congress wants the unemployed youth of UP to continue migrating to Mumbai, Delhi and other places in search of livelihood. In contrast, the BJP wants UP to achieve such accelerated, broadbased and employment-oriented development that even non-resident UPites can return to their home state and find gainful livelihood opportunities. Bihar has been witnessing this transformation, thanks to the good governance and development initiatives taken by the JD(U)-BJP coalition government in the state.
Farm credit: The Congress has promised farm credit with an interest rate of 6 percent. The BJP in its manifesto has pledged to provide farm credit with an interest of 1 percent. We believe that, given the enormity of the crisis in agriculture, the kisans of UP need various kinds of governmental support.
Security: The Congress party’s apathy towards threats to national security — and also to the security of UP — is evident from the fact that there isn’t even a word about security in its ‘Vision Document’. It is well known — and the BJP’s Vision Document and Election Manifesto have emphasized this fact — that ISI, SIMI and HuJI have been conducting their anti-national activities in several parts of the state. The entire Nepal border along northern UP has been threatened. Shockingly, whenever our security forces have captured the operatives of these organizations in cases of terrorism, smuggling, production and transportation of fake notes, etc., the leaders of Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP have given them a clean chit and tried to secure their release.
A laughable claim: The BJP in its Vision Document has mentioned with honour and pride the names of scores of great sons and daughters of Uttar Pradesh, belonging to all faiths, castes, sub-castes and political affiliations, who have contributed to the rich and multi-faceted heritage of the state. In contrast, the only persons eulogised in the Congress party’s Vision Document are those belonging to the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Here is a truly laughable claim. The Congress document states that “Rajiv Gandhi had a vision to put a mobile phone in the hands of every citizen.” There were no mobile phones when Rajiv Gandhi (whom we respect) was alive. He died in a terrorist act in 1991. The first mobile telephone service in India started on 15 August 1995 in Delhi.
The Congress party released its ‘Vision Document 2020’ for Uttar Pradesh with much fanfare yesterday. But even its cursory reading will show that it is a ‘Visionless Document’, and not a ‘Vision Document’. This conclusion will be further reinforced when it is compared with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vision Document and Election Manifesto.
Here are some striking points that show the utter poverty of vision in the Congress party’s ‘Vision Document’:
Power crisis in UP: Uttar Pradesh is currently suffering from a terrible power crisis. Daily power cuts for 10-20 hours are quite common in many parts of the state, especially in rural areas where 70 percent of the state’s population lives. All that the Congress party pledges to provide by 2020 — that is, after eight long years — is eight hours of electricity “to farmers in day time and to households at night time”. This means that, if the Congress party gets to rule UP, the state’s kisans, students, workers, artisans, doctors and nurses in hospitals will have to wait until 2050 for getting something as basic as 24x7 electricity supply.
In contrast, the BJP in its manifesto has promised 24x7 power supply in every part of Uttar Pradesh — “Sabko Bijlee, Sasti Bijlee, Chaubees Ghante Bijlee”. This is not an empty promise. The BJP government in Gujarat, under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, has translated its promise of 24x7 power supply into reality.
There is no mention whatsoever in the Congress party’s document about how it will achieve even the modest target of 8-hour electricity supply. In contrast, we have stated that we shall fulfill our pledge by (a) creating additional generation of 20,000 MW by establishing 10 ultra-mega power plants; (b) realizing the potential of producing at least 6,000 MW through bagasse-based cogeneration units in sugar mills; (c) increasing the Plant Load Factor in the existing thermal power plants from 45 percent to at least 80 percent; (d) vastly reducing transmission and distribution losses and power theft; (e) massively promoting solar energy in a decentralized manner.
‘New Green Revolution’: The Congress has promised ‘New Green Revolution’ in its Vision Document. It has also promised to increase the rate of growth of UP’s GDP to 9-10 percent. We would like to ask Congress leader Shri Rahul Gandhi: aren’t the goals of a ‘New Green Revolution’ and 9-10 percent SGDP laughable, when all that the Congress is promising by 2020 is 8-hour electricity supply?
Employment: The Congress party has promised to create 20 lakh new employment opportunities by 2020. In contrast, the BJP has pledged to create at least 1 crore new employment opportunities in five years. We have also indicated how this pledge will be fulfilled. It seems that the Congress wants the unemployed youth of UP to continue migrating to Mumbai, Delhi and other places in search of livelihood. In contrast, the BJP wants UP to achieve such accelerated, broadbased and employment-oriented development that even non-resident UPites can return to their home state and find gainful livelihood opportunities. Bihar has been witnessing this transformation, thanks to the good governance and development initiatives taken by the JD(U)-BJP coalition government in the state.
Farm credit: The Congress has promised farm credit with an interest rate of 6 percent. The BJP in its manifesto has pledged to provide farm credit with an interest of 1 percent. We believe that, given the enormity of the crisis in agriculture, the kisans of UP need various kinds of governmental support.
Security: The Congress party’s apathy towards threats to national security — and also to the security of UP — is evident from the fact that there isn’t even a word about security in its ‘Vision Document’. It is well known — and the BJP’s Vision Document and Election Manifesto have emphasized this fact — that ISI, SIMI and HuJI have been conducting their anti-national activities in several parts of the state. The entire Nepal border along northern UP has been threatened. Shockingly, whenever our security forces have captured the operatives of these organizations in cases of terrorism, smuggling, production and transportation of fake notes, etc., the leaders of Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP have given them a clean chit and tried to secure their release.
A laughable claim: The BJP in its Vision Document has mentioned with honour and pride the names of scores of great sons and daughters of Uttar Pradesh, belonging to all faiths, castes, sub-castes and political affiliations, who have contributed to the rich and multi-faceted heritage of the state. In contrast, the only persons eulogised in the Congress party’s Vision Document are those belonging to the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Here is a truly laughable claim. The Congress document states that “Rajiv Gandhi had a vision to put a mobile phone in the hands of every citizen.” There were no mobile phones when Rajiv Gandhi (whom we respect) was alive. He died in a terrorist act in 1991. The first mobile telephone service in India started on 15 August 1995 in Delhi.
No comments:
Post a Comment