Bharat Uday Yatra

History has elected the BJP to lead India's march towards becoming a Superpower... And we shall fulfill its mandate

Statement by Deputy Prime Minister

Shri L.K. Advani

At a Press Conference in New Delhi on March 2, 2004

The bugle for the elections to the 14^th Lok Sabha has been sounded. The Bharatiya Janata Party enters the electoral battlefield with three success‑ensuring sources of strength: satisfaction and pride at the performance of our Government since March 1998; our vision and blueprint for further accelerating India's all‑round development over the next five years; and the inspiring leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee which is the continuing link between performance so far and our pledge for the future.

Four distinctive features of the 14th Lok Sabha elections

Every parliamentary election is important in its own way. But the setting for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections has four distinctive features, which I would like to enumerate. On the one hand, these features point to the growing maturity of the world's largest democracy; on the other, they firmly establish the BJP as the natural party of governance in India.

1. Congress party's arrogance pulverized

For over five decades, the Congress party nurtured the arrogance that it alone can rule India. As a subset of this haughtiness, it further believed that only a member of the Nehru dynasty is fit to rule India. By providing stable and dynamic governance under Shri Atalji's leadership, the BJP‑led NDA has pulverized this arrogant attitude. It is an achievement of immense significance for the future of India's democracy.

2. Pro‑incumbency wave in favour of the BJP and NDA

Barring Pandit Nehru's re‑election in 1957 and 1962, never in the subsequent history of parliamentary elections did the country witness such an all‑pervasive pro‑incumbency atmosphere as is there today. It is for the first time that an incumbent government is seeking ‑ and will get ‑ a renewed mandate on the strength of its performance. Smt Indira Gandhi was re‑elected in 1971, but not on the basis of her Government's performance. Even‑the big majority she had won on the back of the 'Garibi Hatao' slogan could not spare her rule from the socio‑political unrest that soon ensued. She chose to dump democracy to ensure, in vain, her own survival. Since then, no Congress or Congress‑supported government has ever been re‑elected to office on the basis of its performance. (The 1984 elections, in which the Congress returned to power, were held in unusual circumstances.)

On the contrary, the BJP‑led National Democratic Alliance Government was not only re-elected in 1999, but is also all poised to return to office with a bigger mandate. In the past, governments were voted out because of their failures; this time, the NDA Government will be voted in because of its successes. To give another analogy, in 1998, the people voted against destabilization and for change; in 1999, they voted against destabilization and for continuity; in 2004, they would vote for stability, continuity and performance.

3. The Leader India adores and the Statesman the world admires

Barring the Nehru years, no Prime Minister retained, at the end of his or her tenure, the. popularity they had when they entered office. In contrast, after six years in office, Shri Atalji, who already was immensely popular and respected even when he was in the opposition, has risen higher both in mass popularity and in critical acclaim. His is not a chance success. Rather, he is a phenomenon that embodies the best traditions of the Jan Sangh and the BJP, and also the best values of India's democracy.

4. Focus of 2004 elections: Development through Good Governance

Barring, to some extent, the Nehru years, no subsequent election so far has focused on development and good governance as the main issues. (The Nehru years were no doubt dedicated to nation‑building and institution‑building, but the Congress party's mass appeal those days lay in its contribution to the Freedom Movement.) In the decades that followed, either political turmoil or some emotional issue or the other formed the backdrop of the electoral battle. Now, for the first time, elections are taking place in a tranquil and tension‑free atmosphere, in which the voters are able to coolly and rationally assess the performance as well as promises of various contenders. As a result, the entire nation has become astir with debate on the track record of the Congress party's 50 years versus the Vajpayee Government's 5 years. From this point of view, the high educational content of the 2004 elections can only be compared with that of the 1977 elections. The 1977 elections made the Indian voter aware of the need to protect democracy. The 2004 elections are making the Indian voter aware of the need to promote development through good governance.

A new yatra, and its conceptual and emotional link with my previous yatras

To spread the message about the BJP's vision for the future as well as the NDA's agenda for the coming five years, and to seek a decisive mandate for their realization, I have

decided to conduct my election campaign in the form of a nationwide yatra it will be called 'Bharat Uday Yatra', which aptly captures both the emerging reality and the strengthening resolve of a resurgent India. Through this yatra I shall appeal to the people to ensure another victory for the NDA under the leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We seek a victory bigger in 2004 than the ones in 1998 and 1999, ‑‑ indeed, a majority for the BJP and a two‑thirds majority for the NDA, which is essential for implementing the gigantic tasks before the nation.

This will be my third major yatra. The first was the Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 in support of the aspirations for the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya; and the other was the Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra in 1997 to commemorate the golden jubilee of India's Independence and to popularize the BJP's resolve to transform "Swaraj" (Self-Governance) into "Su‑raj (Good Governance). As I see it, there is an intrinsic link between this yatra and my previous two yatras. There is a common conceptual and emotional thread of resurgent nationalism that runs through all of them.

The idea of making India a Developed Nation and a Superpower is a highly powerful ‑one, capable of touching the patriotic chord in every Indian, regardless of caste, creed, region, religion, gender or class. It will unleash the constructive energies of a billion people and place them in the service of a Big Idea. It will create a new partnership between the Government and the People. It will reform institutions of the Indian State and make them more development‑ and people‑oriented. It will further liberate the spirit of enterprise among all the productive sections of our society, thereby enabling India to raise the quality of life for all her citizens and to rid herself of the curse of poverty and underdevelopment within the lifespan of a generation. It will increase hope, ride and self‑confidence among young Indians a thousand‑fold. A Superpower India will command the respect of the world. It will enable our country to play its rightful role in the efforts of the global community to make the 'new century and the new millennium an era of peace, development, cooperation and fraternal co‑existence all over the world indeed, an era that could mark a new phase in human evolution.

Destiny beckons India to play this role. India's priceless civilisational, cultural and spiritual heritage; her proud achievements in the past; her vast human resources that constitute one‑sixth of humanity ‑‑ all these qualify her to play this historic role. But India can overcome her challenges at home and play her rightful role in the world only when she becomes a Superpower ‑ an all‑sidedly strong and integrally developed nation. History has elected the BJP to lead India's march towards this goal.

And we shall fulfill History's mandate to us.