File Photo: BJP President Amit Shah with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Facing the Opposition heat over the land bill, BJP today went on the offensive with party President Amit Shah asking MPs to effectively counter "propaganda" against the government on it and highlight the schemes initiated for the welfare of farmers and poor.
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Mr Shah said those people who usurped farmers' land without giving them adequate compensation have no right to question the government on the land bill.
Addressing a day-long workshop of BJP MPs, which coincided with the Kisan rally by Congress, he asked them to spread the message of good governance and various developmental activities initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The workshop, which opened with the Prime Minister's remarks, saw several ministers making a strong pitch for effective projection of NDA government's "pro-poor" initiatives while asking MPs to counter Opposition's anti-farmer attack against it.
Mr Shah said after a decade of UPA rule which saw one scam after another, the country now "has a government which is free of scams and corruption and the MPs should feel proud of it".
Summing up the deliberations, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters, "Overall the mood is very much upbeat."
Mr Naidu quoted Mr Shah as having told the party MPs that a big responsibility was cast on them to project the government's schemes and in deflating the "disinformation campaign" by detractors.
The BJP president was happy about the "change of mood" in the people over the new land bill, he said.
"We were able to not only disarm our critics but also take the message positively to the people who feel that this government is really going to make a sea-change in their life," Mr Shah said.
The Workshop was also addressed by Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, JP Nadda, Birendra Singh and Mr Naidu himself about various initiatives