BJP leaders laud PM Narendra Modi's leadership on party's foundation day

BJP leaders on Tuesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership on the occasion of their party's 41st foundation day with its president J P Nadda underlining its rise to 303 Lok Sabha seats from merely two in 1984 and the fact that it is now in power on its own in 12 states.

Home Minister Amit Shah said the BJP is constantly striving to make the country self-reliant under Modi's leadership and with its ideology of nationalism and 'antyodaya' (uplift of the most deprived). He joined other party leaders in paying tributes to its veterans and others who played a role in nurturing the organisation over the decades.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the BJP is working to build the nation by taking every section of the society in confidence.


"We are proud that India has established itself as a strong and self-respecting country under Modi's leadership," he said.

In his speech on the foundation day, Nadda said the BJP with 18 crore members has become the world's "biggest" party. He praised Modi's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and said that India has provided medicines to over 150 countries and vaccines to 72.

"The BJP is an organisation for whose members the party is the family. We have to live the mantra of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas' to realise the dream of 'new India', a resolve of the prime minister, while putting our organisation to service.

The BJP was founded in 1980 by former Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders after they broke away from the Janata Party as ideological differences and intra-party feud racked the latter following its defeat to the Congress in Lok Sabha polls.

The Jana Sangh and several other opposition parties had merged to form the Janata Party to put up a united challenge to the Congress in 1977 after the Emergency was lifted, and the party scored a victory in the elections.