‘Golden opportunity’ — Modi’s post-election advice to Opposition as winter session begins

Speaking outside Parliament, the Prime Minister said that the wins in MP, Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh were a positive sign for those who were 'committed to working for the people'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside Parliament on the first day of the Winter session | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: The country has rejected negativity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday, a day after the BJP defeated nearest rival Congress in key states Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Addressing the media before the start of the winter session of Parliament, Modi asked opposition leaders to not take out their frustrations in Parliament.

“This is a golden opportunity for the Opposition. Instead of taking out your anger for the defeat, learn from it… Drop the negativity of the last nine years. Be positive so that the country sees you in a different light,” the PM said.

He asked the Opposition not to hold up debates in Parliament, which he said were held to strengthen the edifice of a “Viksit Bharat”.

VIDEO | "The country has rejected negativity. This is a golden opportunity for my friends in the opposition. Rather than venting out their anger of defeat (in assembly elections), they should take lessons from this defeat and shun the idea of negativity that has been there since… pic.twitter.com/JVIHjrvrtT

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 4, 2023

On his party’s win in the heartland states, he said the word “anti-incumbency” became irrelevant when there was good governance. “We are continuously seeing this…You can call it (BJP’s win) pro-incumbency, good governance, transparency, or efforts to work for the people…”

Modi reiterated that the wins in the heartland states were a positive sign for those who were “committed to working for the people”.

“These wins are a boost to the country’s women, youth, farmers and the poor. The empowerment of these sections is necessary, as is the last-mile delivery to them,” he added.

The BJP snatched Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress Sunday, and retained Madhya Pradesh by a significant margin.

It won 163 to the Congress’s 66 in the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh Assembly. It won Rajasthan 115-70 and Chhattisgarh 54-35 in head-to-head contests with the main opposition party.

The Congress (64 seats) won Telangana, by defeating incumbent Bharat Rashtra Samithi (39 seats). The BJP won 8 seats in this 119-constituency assembly, bettering its 2018 tally by 7.