Finally: BJP unveils Lok Sabha elections manifesto

After an embarrassingly long delay, the BJP finally released its manifesto for the upcoming polls and has announced various measures to shore up the Indian economy and reform administrative processes in the country. “We will do what it takes to make this country a great country…We have a strong leader in the form of Narendra Modi who will make the nation a greater one,” senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi said today. [caption id=“attachment_1468819” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The BJP says the manifesto will cater to all sections of society. PTI[/caption] Party president Rajnath Singh attempted to defend the delay in the release of the manifesto by saying that the party had attempted to bring out a document that it would stick to. “We have not just fulfilled our obligation to release a manifesto but we will fulfil all the promises that we have made if we come to power,” Singh said. The manifesto is reported to have been delayed because of the party’s prime ministerial candidate’s insistence to incorporate changes in the document. Singh said that it had been made out like its Prime Ministerial candidate was ‘politically untouchable’. “If there is a case where one person who has been targeted the most in India’s political history it is Narendra Modi,” he said. The party’s prime ministerial candidiate Narendra Modi said that the two words that described about the party’s agenda it was progress and good governance. He said the document presented the BJP’s vision for ensuring that the nation would see eye to eye with the rest of the world. Stating that he would attempt to fulfill all the statements made in the document, Modi said, “I promise never to do anything with any bad intentions.” The party has listed its objectives in various categories: the first of which is what it will attend to immediately including inflation, employment, entrepreneurship, bringing back black money in foreign accounts and tackling policy paralysis. In its promises to tackle corruption, the BJP has said that it will focus on public awareness, e-governance and rationalisation of the tax regime. The party also promised to bring the GST tax regime in the country and while re-affirming its stand on FDI in multi-brand retail, said it was open to FDI in all other sectors to raise employment in the nation. The party has promised to improve centre-state relations in the nation in which it has mentioned region specific plans with Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern states and Seemandhra regions getting special mention. It has also promised to stregthen the panchayati raj system. The party has promised institutional reforms across government structures including police, judicial and administrative reforms. It also promised electoral reforms in consultation with other parties, which include holding state and national elections at the same time to ensure money was saved. It also promised to implement other schemes including ending manual scavenging, improving healthcare facilities in the nation and ensuring teh number of secondary school graduates was raised. Here’s the full text of the party’s manifesto: