Let us begin the New Year 2025 with Hope. As it is, the mood for development is highly enthusiastic nationwide. Of course, we ought to start the New Year paying tribute to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
The country has lost a key leader. His Budget of 1991 was path-breaking and it helped India liberalise the economy. He was a Congressman but that does not stop BJP leaders to place on record our sincere appreciation for his economic management.
The fact is – the opening of the Indian economy during the Narasimha Rao government was like setting free the giant elephant – like the size of the nation. May his soul rest in peace.
He did make the Congress party proud.
I am witness to BJP leaders sometimes joking with Dr Manmohan Singh that his economic liberalisation policy is a “right wing” move but he was taking support of the communists to remain India’s Prime Minister. Politics is full of such paradoxes. We should not make any big issue of these.
My basic emphasis for the new calendar year 2025 is enhanced development.
I always believe there is some sort of ‘impatience’ in the country about enhanced and all round developments. This ‘impatience’ actually compels the country, its people and the governments both in the centre and in the states to remain on a particular course. The positivity!
Often we have debated in the last three decades since 1991 that the so-called Reform should not be meant for a few particular sections of society and more particularly for a few states.
The bottlenecks have been removed by our Modi Govt when Late respected leader Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister since 2014.
Many people have argued that Reform was a good economy but not necessarily good politics.
But the change came with the installation of the Narendra Modi government. Our party introduced the vital ‘social consciousness’ with the market economy.
Therefore there has been added attention to the north east. Take this example –
there has been more than five times yearly budgetary allocations increase for Railway infrastructure development work alone in the Northeast region in comparison to the period 2009-2014.
Today, Northeast no longer means a far-flung region for the administrators and policy makers in Delhi. Even in the political realm, I was made BJP National Vice President.
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Pan-India does not exclude northeast – as was the case once upon a time.
There have been certain key decisions under the Modi government. For example, the expansion of the Tax net. It benefited higher investment for infrastructure. What is not appreciated is that the shares of the States from revenue also increased especially after the introduction of the GST.
For rural poor and underdeveloped areas, in effect money reached them like never in the past. In the past for welfare measures and even banking works – the village was taken as a unit. So if one villager had a bank account, it showed ‘inclusion’. This was a faulty picture.
In 2014 – the first stint of the Modi government – had 12.5 crore bank accounts opened in just 100 days. This was a giant jump. Under the NDA government, the change was basic. A family or an individual was treated as a unit in measuring developmental methodologies.
As a result, a communist-ruled state Kerala recorded 100 per cent success rates in various developmental yardsticks. This is just an example.
Now, let me take up local issues — matters concerning our Naga people.
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Of course, in 2025 we will need to work faster and harder for the much needed Political Solution to the Naga issue. On the social front, our youths have challenges and also problems related to job opportunities.
There is a lot to do on this score. Our party is also keen to create better opportunities for the youths to make use of their talent at both the stages – as students/learners and also to get jobs.
Our English knowledge, especially in the north east, is a strong foundation. We all know with the willingness to work hard, the Naga youths can shine in ASEAN countries and also in large economies like the United States.
As the nation pays homage to a former Prime Minister – who represented Assam as the lawmaker – in the northeastern states and in Nagaland in particular, we need to focus our priorities on positives of life.
(M Chuba Ao is BJP national vice president. Views are personal)
