BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday asserted that it was his party which brought Gandhi’s dream of “Gram Swaraj to fruition" and charged the Congress, to which the Mahatma belonged, with having shown a “superficial understanding” of India in its conception of cooperative farming.

Nadda was addressing party workers here ahead of a national executive meeting of the BJP’s seven wings (morchas), ?which is being held jointly for the first time with office bearers from across the country in attendance.

“In the last eight years, since Narendra Modi assumed power at the Centre, there has been a five-fold increase in funds allocated for rural development. And as our prime minister says, gone are the days when only 15 paise out of every rupee that was allocated used to reach the intended beneficiaries”, said Nadda, referring to former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s famous statement.

In his brief speech that lasted barely 20 minutes, the BJP president appeared to drive home the point that his party’s government, which had faced flak over the contentious farm laws, was deeply concerned about the needs of the rural populace and was taking steps for their betterment.

He also showered praise on the Modi administration for its mammoth vaccination drive against Covid-19 and touched upon the NDA government’s fine performance in Bihar where the coalition, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has been in power for over a decade and a half.

(With PTI Inputs)