India to become a major power with PM's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' mission: Meghwal

Addressing a virtual rally for the people of Bengal on Tuesday, Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said PM Modi's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' mission will give the country the much-needed thrust to become a major power in the world.

Kolkata: Asserting that 2020 will be a turning point for India, Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant) mission will give the country the much-needed thrust to become a major power in the world.

Addressing a virtual rally for the people of Bengal, which was attended by Asansol MP and Union minister Babul Supriyo, Meghwal said the PM intends to make the country self-reliant in every aspect -- from thought-process to implementation of goals.

"On May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about India becoming an 'Atmanirbhar desh' and the most advanced country. The PM wants to make India 'atmanirbhar' in every way -- from thought-process to goal implementation," the Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs said.

Meghwal also said the country has achieved four major successes within a year of Modi taking over as PM for the second term -- abolition of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution that granted special status to J&K, Supreme Court nod for construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act and a law banning Triple Talaq.

Bengal is ready to bless the BJP in the 2021 assembly elections to enjoy the fruits of development and advancement initiated by Modi, he claimed. "The slogan of '19 mein half, 21 mein saaf' is poised to come true and the Trinamool Congress will bite the dust in next year's elections in the state," he said.

The Union minister said the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC had raised the slogan --- 'Ma, Mati, Manush' (mother, soil and people) to come to power in Bengal, but "all three are now in distress".

Claiming that the chief minister does not believe in constitutional propriety, he said, "It is astonishing that her officials do not allow the state governor to visit universities, where he is the chancellor."

Governor Jagdeep Dhankar and the ruling TMC leadership in the state have crossed swords over several issues in the past one year, including control of universities, of which he is the ex-officio chancellor.

Union Minister of State Babul Supriyo alleged that Banerjee, despite taking reins of the state as chief minister, continues to work as a TMC leader. "She has always behaved like a TMC supremo and not as a chief minister of the people of the state," Supriyo said.

He claimed the people of West Bengal have been unfortunate as they did not see any development in the last 43 years -- 34 years of Left Front rule and nine years of the present TMC dispensation. "Didi has adopted all that were bad under the Left rule and taken those to greater heights," he said.

Calling the chief minister 'speed breaker Didi', an epithet used by Modi to address Banerjee during the no-holds barred campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP MP alleged that she has put barriers in path of growth and development of the state. PTI