Congress Only Interested In Keeping The Poor In Poverty: BJP Chief JP Nadda

BJP chief JP Nadda on Sunday attacked the Congress, saying public service delivery may be an "alien concept" for the party as its only interest is to keep "the poor in poverty".

The reaction came on a day Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi objecting to a government order which, he claimed, stated that senior officers of ranks as high as joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary are to be deployed to all 765 districts of the country as "Rath Prabharis" to "showcase achievements of the last nine years of Government of India".

"It baffles me to see the Congress party has an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes," Mr Nadda said in a post on X, asking, "If this not the basic tenet of governance, what is?" 

On Saturday, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera shared on X the October 18 order of the Department of Revenue in the finance ministry regarding the nomination of officers of the ranks of joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary pertaining to various services to be deployed as "rath prabhari" (special officers) in each of the country's 765 districts, covering 2.69 lakh gram panchayats.

Mr Nadda said that "it may be an alien concept for the Congress, but public service delivery is the duty of a government."

"If the Modi government wants to ensure saturation of all schemes and ensure all beneficiaries are reached, nobody who has the interest of the poor in their mind can have a problem," the BJP chief said.

"But, the Congress only has an interest in keeping the poor in poverty and hence, their opposition to the saturation drive," he said.

The order mentioned an internal order of the agriculture secretary of October 14 regarding showcasing or celebrating the achievements of the last nine years of the Modi government through the "Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra" proposed to be organised across the country for disseminating information, awareness, and extending services at the gram panchayat level from November 20 to January 25.

"In order to coordinate for the preparations, planning, execution, monitoring of the Rath Yatra, they have decided to deploy joint secretaries/director/deputy secretaries of Government of India as Rath Prabharis (special officer)," the order read.

Prime Minister Modi has set a target of six months to ensure the full saturation of his government's welfare schemes, official sources said on Saturday.

Hitting out at the Congress, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya wrote on X, "Who said bureaucrats in GoI (Government of India) are not meant to talk about the programmes and schemes implemented?".

"Should they just sit in offices and not be on the ground to assess impact?" Mr Malviya asked and said bureaucrats are "duty bound" to serve the people, as the elected government deems fit.

Regarding the order, Mr Kharge in his letter to PM Modi also alleged that the government's recent orders asking officials to "showcase" the achievements of the last nine years was "politicisation" of the bureaucracy and demanded their withdrawal.

Hitting out at the Congress, Mr Malviya said, "Just because five states are going to polls and general elections are seven months away, should we abandon governance?"

Even as the Gujarat Chief Minister, each year, irrespective of elections, Narendra Modi ensured his bureaucrats went out in the field during June-July to ensure all school-going children enroll, he said. "It ensured universal education in Gujarat," Mr Malviya added.

Similarly in the next six months, Prime Minister Modi wants complete saturation of welfare schemes, like the PM Awas Yojana (Grameen), National Rural Livelihood Mission, PM Kisan, Fasal Bima Yojana, Poshan Abhiyan, Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat, Janaushadhi Yojana, PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Skill Development programs, Vishwakarma Yojana among others, Mr Malviya said.

"His entire government will spread across 2.7 lakh panchayats, under a mega saturation drive called 'Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra', and reach out to potential beneficiaries and enroll them," the BJP leader said and added that "so, let the government work, elections will happen when they happen".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)