Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 6 : Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday hoisted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flag at the party office in Chennai to mark the party's foundation day, extending greetings to party workers and highlighting the BJP's journey from its Jana Sangh roots to becoming the world's largest political party.
Speaking to reporters, Goyal said, "My greetings to 13.4 crore BJP workers on this auspicious day when we are celebrating the 47th foundation day of the world's largest political party built by the sweat and commitment of our senior leaders and workers who have worked over the last 75 years, from the days of Jana Sangh to fight against the regime of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru who had divided the country by not giving Kashmir as an intergral part of India."
Tracing the party's history, he added, "From humble beginnings, the party has grown. We merged into the Janata Party in 1977. Finally, on 6th April 1980, under the leadership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the party was formed in Mumbai. At the first convention, Vajpayee ji had said, 'The sun will rise, and the lotus will blossom' after we finish the corrupt and bad governance of the Congress party."
Goyal also launched a sharp attack on the ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu, alleging corruption and dynastic politics. "Tamil Nadu today has a very similar situation. Unfortunately, for the last five years, we have seen people's distress, failure of the government, massive corruption in every aspect of government, whether it is the liquor scam, whether it is the land scam, whether it's sand mafia, the corruption in the electricity boards, corruption in jobs with cash for jobs prevalent, corruption in transfer and postings. The Stalin family, whether it is MK Stalin, whether it is Udhayanidhi Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister and future Chief Minister if the people make the mistake of voting DMK, whether it is Ms Kanimozhi, whether it is Mr Sabareesan, brother-in-law, this is one family rule which does not allow any other DMK leader to come forward," he said.
The Union Minister further alleged that the DMK-led government has hurt Tamil sentiments and culture, criticising Udhayanidhi Stalin's elevation as Deputy Chief Minister.
"It was very clear when MK Stalin made Udhayanidhi the Deputy Chief Minister that he was trying to establish family rule. I caution the people of Tamil Nadu of this design," Goyal said.
Expressing confidence in the NDA's prospects in the upcoming elections, Goyal said the alliance would return to power in the state under the leadership of Edappadi K Palaniswami and deliver governance similar to previous AIADMK regimes.
Goyal added that with candidates filing nominations on an "auspicious day," the BJP and NDA are expecting a strong electoral performance in the upcoming elections. "I am confident that today, being an auspicious day, when our nominees are filing nominations, we will see very good results for the BJP and the NDA," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party traces its origin to the Jana Sangh, which merged with the Janata Party after the Emergency in 1977 with the aim of defeating the Congress. Later, questions of dual membership arose between RSS members and the Jana Sangh, with the ask that either the Jana Sangh members should leave the Janata Party or their membership of RSS. The issue led to the Jana Sangh members leaving the Janata Party and officially founding the BJP on April 6, 1980.
Since its formation, the BJP has produced two Prime Ministers, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi.
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