Mumbai, Jun 16 (PTI) Union minister and BJP leader Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said the focus of Indian politics has shifted over the last 12 years and that elections were now centred on development and nation-building instead of caste, class and community-based considerations.
Before 2014, the year when the Modi government assumed office for the first time, politics largely depended on seeking votes on the basis of caste, class and community, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Youth Affairs and Sports told reporters here.
Referring to the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mandaviya pointed out that Tuesday marked 4,402 days of the PM holding the top office, coinciding with the completion of two years of the BJP-led NDA government in its third term.
On June 10, Modi became India’s longest-serving elected Prime Minister, officially surpassing the first PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s post-election record.
“Today, Indian politics has become centred around development and good governance. Over the last 12 years, the centre of politics has completely changed. Before 2014, politics largely depended on seeking votes on the basis of caste, class and community. Now, the main basis of elections has become only ‘development’ and ‘nation-building’. This is the biggest change in Indian politics,” he noted.
Over these 12 years, the country has progressed and witnessed the building of a ‘New India’,” the minister maintained.
Mandaviya asserted benefits of government schemes had reached different sections of society and cited figures related to housing and financial inclusion to back his argument.
He said four crore people had received permanent houses and more than 58 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts had been opened.
A Jan Dhan account is a zero-balance savings account launched by the Centre to provide universal access to banking services.
The minister outlined the Centre’s approach towards future health challenges and said the country was preparing its medical infrastructure to address emerging risks.
Referring to lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mandaviya, who was the health minister during the global crisis, stated that India was building systems to deal with future health threats and unknown viruses over the next two to three decades.
Mandaviya insisted health security required the participation of governments, the private sector, scientists and citizens.
He said the government was promoting domestic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and research under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to reduce dependence on imports for medicines and medical equipment.
The minister emphasised the government was implementing international standards and regulatory measures to strengthen confidence in Indian medicines globally. PTI ND RSY
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.