Sena hits out at BJP again for bid to wipe out name of Nehru-Gandhi family

MUMBAI: Saamna has pooh-poohed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the country has attained progress under his leadership. In an editorial on Saturday, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece criticized the PM’s speech on completing two years in office.
“Every Prime Minister has over the last 60 years made claims about progress... To say that nothing has been done by the previous regime is merely a refrain.If earlier regimes did nothing, India wouldn’t have attained progress at all. You can’t think of creating something new by wiping out the names of Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao... Even H D Deve Gowda, who held the PM’s office for a few months, used to claim that India has developed under his captaincy,” Saamna said.
Pouring ridicule on Modi's latest assurance that strengthening states would be his government’s priority, Saamna asked if states ruled by non-BJP governments would also be strengthened by the NDA.
“The West Bengal chief minister has complained about the Centre’s step-motherly treatment... Chandrababu Naidu too has been saying that the Centre has yet to fulfill its assurances to Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra hasn’t been given adequate financial assistance by the Centre to tackle drought,” said the Sena mouthpiece.
“The PM has said that as many as 7,000 villages across the country were given electricity within 300 days... India is fast changing, India is marching ahead and everyone is happy about it. However, the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir have warned that they wouldn’t allow Kashmiri Pandits to step into the Kashmir valley. While electricity has reached 7,000 villages, there is darkness in the lives of Kashmiri Pandits,” remarked Saamna.
Stating that Modi is a strong and competent leader who can translate into reality his assurances to the people, Saamna added that the PM alone calls the shots in the BJP in the absence of a strong party high command.