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New Delhi: Telling Union ministers to reach the public with a list of the government’s achievements ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also told them to fast-track projects which can be inaugurated before next year’s polls, ThePrint has learnt.
These directions were given during a meeting of the Union council of ministers Monday, chaired by PM Modi.
The Prime Minister also asked the ministers to make a calendar of 12 major achievements and schemes of their respective ministries and showcase them to the public. Sources in the government told ThePrint that the PM advised the ministers to not just focus on announcements, but also on execution and implementation.
“The PM’s advice was quite simple: Ministers should hit the ground running and understand the real situation by interacting with the public. During the meetings it was also discussed what are the developmental activities that need to be sped up,” said a minister who attended the meeting.
During the meeting, which is learnt to have lasted over five hours, the PM also sought performance reports of a few ministries.
“The PM stressed on the fact that all the ministers should ensure that the benefits of the Union government schemes and programmes are reaching the common public and if there are any hurdles they should be removed at the earliest,” said a source in the government.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of a possible cabinet reshuffle, it is learnt.
According to sources in the government, a presentation was also made at the meeting on India’s projected journey till 2047 and the roadmap prepared by various ministries to achieve this.
“Apart from this, presentations were also made on India’s economic growth and diplomatic achievements. The PM stressed on the fact that he and his government were not only focused on the upcoming assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections but the entire vision of the PM is to see India emerge as the ‘vishwa guru’ [universal leader] by 2047. In the presentation it was pointed out how the PM’s (foreign) trips were different and better than his predecessors,” said a second minister.
According to the source quoted above, Modi’s recent foreign visits — to the US and Egypt last month — were cited as an example of having further enhanced the image of the country.
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‘2024 to be fought on agenda of development’
According to sources present at the meeting, the Prime Minister laid emphasis on regularly interacting with the people and informing them about the Union government’s flagship programmes and schemes.
“The PM said we have a vision (yehi samay hai, sahi samay hai [this is the time, the right time]) and 2024 [general elections] will be fought on the agenda of development. He also said that the focus has always been and will continue to be infrastructure and 2024 will be fought on this agenda,” added the second minister quoted above.
The PM is also learnt to have pointed out that apart from physical interaction with the public, ministers should utilise social media in a much better manner to connect with the people, especially the youth, said a second source in the government.
“The PM said that everyone should promote and publicise the work of their ministries much more aggressively and also make a calendar of 12 major achievements and schemes of the respective ministries. He said the opposition will continue to target the government but they need to be focused and work for the people,” said the first source quoted above.
According to the first minister quoted above, the Prime Minister stressed on the fact that the government has done a lot of work and carried out development in the past nine years — since Modi became prime minister — and this should be highlighted and the public be informed about the same.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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