New Delhi: Taking on the “tukde tukde” elitism, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the BJP’s 2019 election manifesto was prepared with a strong nationalistic vision and India has to decide whether it require a visionless government with multiple leaders taking claim for leadership or a single party majority government with allies representing federal character as an inbuilt path of its coalition.  

Trying to project that the BJP remained a ‘party with difference,’ External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said her party is the only one to come up with a “Sankalp Patra”, while others came up with “Ghoshna Patra.” She said India’s prestige touched new heights under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and it was visible when Pakistan threatened to boycott the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting if India was invited and 56 of the 57 participating countries said let Pakistan not come.

Mr Jaitley, who had called the Congress poll promises, in particular, scrapping the sedition law, on the national security and Jammu and Kashmir as prepared by its president Rahul Gandhi’s “tukde tukde gang,” said “This (BJP) manifesto, in the season of manifestos, is not prepared with a tukde tukde mindset, not even with an Ivy League mindset but with a strong nationalist vision and after a detailed consultation by the committee headed by Rajnath Singjh and is therefore, rooted in the Indian realities,” said the senior party leader heading the publicity committee for the Lok Sabha polls.

Asserting that India’s “new security doctrine” makes it into one of the most powerful nations of the world where “our deterrant is our best defence,” Mr Jaitley said his party will reject ideas for the ‘Balkanisation’ of the country but will act completely with an idea which promises to make India one of the strongest and secure countries of the world. He also noted that for the first time, India was globally the fastest growing economies and its fiscal prudence since 1947 has been the best ever for a five year government.

“Our inflation has been the lowest as compared to our predecessor...the essence of the manifesto is to deplete poverty to a single digit and eventually eliminate it,” said Mr Jaitley.

Lauding the BJP’s manifesto, Ms Swaraj said “It is not just announcements that the document has made, but pledges that the party has made to itself to deliver to the people,” adding that the country would believe the BJP as its government had done a lot more than it had promised in 2014.

Talking about Mr Modi’s leadership, she said he was honoured with five major prestigious awards in the last five years by different countries, including Saudi Arabia.

She added that India’s prestige had touched new heights under Mr Modi’s leadership and that it was visible when Pakistan threatened to boycott the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting if India was invited and 56 of the 57 participating countries said let Pakistan not come. India’s prestige is now very high in the world and its participation in the OIC meeting was a significant achievement, said the external affairs minister, adding that it was an indication of Modi’s diplomatic success.