Are Achhe Din Here, Amit Shah Was Asked On 4 Years Of BJP Rule. His Reply

NEW DELHI: The promise of "Achhe Din" was a top campaign point in BJP's campaign for the 2014 national election and was considered a big hit with voters. Once the BJP won the election, it has been mostly used by the opposition and BJP's critics to mock the government, asking if the Achhe Din promised four years ago have arrived.

Amit Shah, the BJP boss who is strategizing the party's campaign to get PM Narendra Modi a second term in office, was asked the question again at a media conference today convened to highlight the government's achievements over the last four years.

In response, Mr Shah spoke about the BJP government touching the lives of crores of families and improving their lot.

"We have made a proven and successful effort to raise the standard of living for 22 crore families, anybody can verify this.... And this effort has been successful, it has reached to the lowest strata, the economy of the country has recovered, the nation's borders have been secured, the country's pride has increased, we have also done a lot of work to improve the condition of women in our country," Mr Shah said.

He said the government had done a lot to fulfil its promises and there still was one more year to go. "And in this one year, we will rid many of the villages of a lot of problems... 100 per cent," the BJP president said, taking care not to repeat the party's leitmotif of PM Modi's vote appeal in the 2014 election.

BJP leaders have admitted in the past that the catchphrase had been haunting the party after the BJP swept the national election in 2014.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had, faced with a question about Achhe Din, conceded back in 2016 how the BJP was stuck with the phrase that PM Narendra Modi had borrowed from his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh.

The minister had traced the etymology to a Delhi conference, when, he said, Dr Singh promised Achhe Din in the future in response to questions from NRIs.

"Then Modi-ji said it somewhere and it got stuck to us. Still, I believe thatAchhe Din means people have good expectations," said Mr Gadkari, describing the phrase "a millstone around our neck"

The minister had pointed how Achhe Din would never come because people would always, rightly so he added, want more. "Those who have cycles want scooters, and those who have scooters want cars. It is not wrong, but the wealthy are dissatisfied too," he said.

The slogan was extensively used by PM Modi who was the BJP's presumptive Prime Minister in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election.