Live Updates: BJP releases its Manifesto ‘Sankalp Patra’

New Delhi| The BJP will be releasing its manifesto named “Sankalp Patra” today. The event will be attended by PM Modi, party president Amit Shah and BJP’s Central Election Committee leaders.

The BJP manifesto comes a week after Congress released its Manifesto promising Rupees 72,000 to the poorest 20% households whose income is less than Rupees 12,000 per month.

The BJP which has based its campaign on the issue of National Security and Terrorism is expected to raise the same issues in its manifesto.

Here are the live updates:

• “People sitting in Air conditioned rooms in Delhi cannot beat the poverty. Only the poor can defeat poverty. This is our mantra and therefore we have emphasized the empowerment of the poor: PM Modi

• “People’s Movement” a must for overall development.

• We will set up a ‘Jal Shakti’ Ministry. The ministry will formulate plans for optimum utilization of river waters. BJP also promises a separate ministry for Fishermen.

• We have set 75 well-defined resolutions in our manifesto that we can fulfil in a time-bound manner. We are moving forward with ‘one mission, one direction’- PM Modi

• “This is an indication of Modi ji’s diplomatic success that when Pakistan threatened to boycott Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC) meeting if India was invited then 56 out of 57 countries said let Pakistan not come”- Sushma Swaraj

• “PM Modi has been awarded with 5 awards in the world. India’s image rose globally in the five years tenure of PM Modi.”- Sushma Swaraj

• “The country will believe BJP because we did more than what was promised in 2014”- Sushma Swaraj

• BJP promises to create new opportunities for employment by providing more support to the 22 major ‘Champion Sectors’ identified as the main drivers of the Indian economy. BJP will launch a new scheme to provide collateral-free credit up to ₹50 lakh for entrepreneurs.

• BJP Manifesto prepared with ‘Strong Nationalist Vision’, says Arun Jaitley. “This manifesto, in a season of manifestos, is not prepared with a ‘tukde tukde’ mindset. It is not even prepared with an ‘Ivy league’ mindset.”- Arun Jaitley

• Women’s Reservation Bill: BJP committed to 33% reservation in parliament and state assemblies through a constitutional amendment, says manifesto.

• Five-point resolution in line with Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Gram Swaraj’ yojna, including Saashray (housing), Sujal (drinking water), Suchna se sashaktikaran (digital connectivity through Bharatnet), Sadak se samriddhi(road connectivity), Swach Bharat vision.

• BJP promises further GST simplification.

• No or 0% interest short-term loans up to Rs. 1 lakh to farmers for 1-5 years on the condition of prompt repayment of the principal amount.

• BJP manifesto promises that the party is committed to the abrogation of Article 370 and the annulling Article 35A of the Constitution of India. The manifesto says the provision is discriminatory against non-permanent residents and women of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Along with 6000 rupees per year under Kisan Samman Yojana, BJP will also give pension to small and marginal farmers after 60 years of age.

• Rajnath Singh on Ram Mandir: “We reiterate the promise made in the last elections. We will weigh all our option & we will try that the Ram Mandir be built as soon as possible in a harmonious environment.”

• Rajnath Singh said, “We had a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism, it will continue till terror is not eliminated completely.”

• BJP President Amit Shah constituted a committee under Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to draft the ‘Sankalp Patra’. “He nominated 12 people with me and also divided him into 12 categories to make the resolutionMulti-Dimensional,” says Singh.

• BJP Manifesto is called ‘Sankalp Patra’. The cover page bears the picture of PM Modi. It includes 75 promises or resolutions. “We are going forward with 75 resolutions that we can fulfil by the year 2022 when India completes 75 years of independence.”- Amit Shah

• “2014 was the election based on hopes, 2019 will be an election based on expectations,” says Amit Shah. BJP has made its manifesto after consulting 6 crore people, informs Shah.

• Amit Shah says, in 2014 India’s economy was at 11th, but today India is the world’s sixth largest economy.

• “The last five years will be written in golden letters in India’s history of development”- Amit Shah

• Amit Shah says in 2014, BJP declared the then Gujarat Chief Minister its PM candidate. “We came to you with a vision of how we would run the country. The people gave us a historic success,” said Shah.

• Amit Shah begins his address at the launch of ‘BJP Manifesto’ at the party headquarters in New Delhi