BJP chief Amit Shah arrives to attend a party meeting in Howrah, West Bengal on Tuesday. (Press Trust of India photo)
BJP today said its party president Amit Shah had been misquoted on "Achche din" in media reports and aired a recording of his speech at a meeting in Bhopal yesterday.
Slamming what he called "sensationalism of headlines," union minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal said, "We saw a twisted statement attributed to our president in a section of media... Some newspapers think that anything can be carried... It was a closed door meeting but since he has been misquoted therefore we are playing the recording."
"As you have heard it is clear that the heading given that it will take 25 years for ache din to come is totally wrong. We condemn it. We hope responsible journalism will be the focus," Mr Goyal said after the recording was played.
The BJP has said that Mr Shah had in fact said that it would take 25 years to restore India to its "ancient glory." The recording played, and transcripts distributed thereafter, have no mention of "Achche din," which trended on Twitter this morning amid attacks from the opposition.
"If the BJP had revealed before the elections that it would take 25 years to deliver achche din, would the people have voted it to power?" asked Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in an early morning tweet today.
The Congress' Manish Tewari had tweeted even earlier on Tuesday, "From I00 days to 25 yrs for Acche Din and Acche Din means era before British Raj says BJP..."
"Acche Din" was the leit motif of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vote appeal in the national election that his party swept last year. It promised voters better days and deliverance from corruption and poverty that the BJP alleged 10 years of Congress rule had brought.
In the months since, rival parties have often resurrected the "Achche Din" refrain to question the Modi government.
Mr Shah was in Bhopal to review a membership drive.