New Delhi, May 26 (IANS): The BJP on Saturday celebrated four years of the Modi government, claiming that it has given a corruption-free government in the interest of the poor and farmers while the Congress marked it as a "betrayal day", accusing it of failing on multiple fronts.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP President Amit Shah said the government was committed to work for the uplift of the Dalits, the poor and the farmers in the country even as the Opposition was spreading lies to remove Modi.
Shah said the BJP had replaced the Congress' politics of "appeasement, dynasty and caste" with politics of "development and performance".
He said opposition parties coming together against the BJP would make no difference to it in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and expressed confidence that Modi would be elected again.
He said virtually the choice for the voter would be between Modi and an unknown face on the other side.
Replying to a question about the opposition unity against the the Bharatiya Janata Party after the Karnataka elections, Shah said: "They fought against us in 2014. They were united. They are the leaders of their regions.
"If Mamata (Banerjee) and (Chandrababu) Naidu come together on one platform, what difference does it make in Bengal and Andhra Pradesh?
"If (Sitaram) Yechury and (H.D.) Kumaraswamy come together what difference will it make to Bengal and Karantaka politics? It doesn't work like that. They are all regional leaders and contested against the BJP.
"Mamata, Akhilesh (Yadav), Mayawati, Sharad Pawar and Rahul (Gandhi)... they all fought against us. They are main opponents (of the BJP) in their states. Others don't matter there."
Asked about the series of reverses the BJP had suffered in Lok Sabha by-elections, he said voting in by-polls is different from general elections and still one year was left for the Lok Sabha polls.
"When a voter casts his vote to form government keeping in mind who will be the Prime Minister whether Narendra Modi or someone else, the parameters will be different from the by-elections."
Shah said in the last four years living standard of 22 crore people had been elevated through several schemes while the country's self-pride was restored and its status globally taken to a new high.
"We expect the people to vote Prime Minister Modi back to power with a full majority," Shah said.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi said the Modi-led government scored best in self-promotion but failed on multiple fronts, including in agriculture and foreign policy.
Gandhi said a "report card" for the BJP government showed it was a complete failure on economy, fuel prices and job creation.
He dubbed the government as a "master communicator", though it struggled with complex issues and short attention span.
"4 Yr. Report Card -- Agriculture: F (failed), Foreign Policy: F, Fuel Prices: F, Job Creation: F, Slogan Creation: A+, Self Promotion: A+, Yoga: B-." Remarks: master communicator; struggles with complex issues; short attention span," Gandhi said.
Attacking the government, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Prime Minister had failed to keep his promise on national security and had let down security forces.
"Kashmir is a state which was exploited by Modi most during the elections. In the recent past, ever since things had normalised in Jammu and Kashmir post 1996, highest number of security forces and civilians were killed in the four years of the Modi government," Azad said at a press conference.
"National security is an area on which Prime Minister spoke during the election campaign. He highlighted the importance of national security and exploited it to the hilt. And, he got the maximum votes in the name of national security.
"The national security means where people are safe and secure, it means where there is freedom of expression and freedom of press. But under Modi's government nobody is safe. Everybody is having sleepless nights," Azad said.
The Congress said the Modi government spent Rs 4,600 crore on advertisements in the last four years.