Country First, Party Second Says PM Narendra Modi At Huge BJP Meet

New Delhi: Calling for a new era of public participation in governance to improve quality of life, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the BJP must think and act beyond elections. "While traditional politics will go on, with the mandate that we have got, we are taking democracy beyond elections," the Prime Minister said while addressing his party's national executive in the capital today. Political representatives must adhere to public participation, the PM said, stressing that the "country comes first, the party second." 

"If people don't participate, no drive can succeed," PM Modi said, also stating that his battle against corruption would remain uncompromising. "The fight will go on till corruption has been wiped out," he said. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who briefed reporters on the Prime Minister's speech, quoted the PM as also observing that there is no political organisation as active as the BJP in the country today. 

The Prime Ministers' speech came at the end of a day-long meeting of about 2,500 members of the BJP at the capital's Talkatora stadium. PM Modi attended the entire event. 

Thanked by BJP chief Amit Shah for his government's handling of the Doklam standoff with China, the Prime Minister said many people are surprised it was resolved peacefully. "We did it peacefully. Many people remain surprised how we did it," sources quoted the Prime Minister as saying about the lengthy standoff which began in mid-June and saw Chinese and Indian troops eyeball-to-eyeball for weeks at the Sikkim border. Both sides withdrew troops from the remote Doklam Plateau, a region that both China and Bhutan claim, at the end of last month. 

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Amit Shah said the BJP government led by PM Modi had demonstrated patience, perseverance and confident politics in its resolution of the Doklam standoff. He also praised Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for her speech attacking Pakistan over terrorism at the United Nations General Assembly on the weekend, as he highlighted the government's achievements, including its handling of Naxalism and terrorism in its three years of rule. 

The Prime Minister left it to his party to defend his economic policies, under attack from the opposition, which has blamed last year's notes ban and what it alleges is faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the current economic slowdown. At the meeting, the BJP adopted a resolution that said the GST is the nation's biggest reform since Independence, union minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters.  

Amit Shah cited data to state that the economy is stronger under the BJP-led NDA government, than it was under the previous Congress-led UPA government.

The BJP's national executive is usually attended by about 120 top leaders. Today's meeting, however, was called an "extended" National Executive as the party wraps up year-long celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of its founder Deendayal Upadhyaya. It was for the first time that the BJP's lawmakers were invited. 

About 2,500 members of the ruling party, including 13 Chief Ministers and all its elected lawmakers - 1,400 legislators and 280 parliamentarians - attended the meeting.