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BJP alone will get at least 370 seats, NDA will cross 400-seat mark: PM Modi

Exuding confidence that his government will return to power in the next Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 5 declared that the BJP alone would get at least 370 seats and that the NDA would cross the 400-seat mark in the Lok Sabha, with the Congress destined to sit in the Opposition for several more years.

In his speech responding to the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to both Houses of Parliament, Modi said that he could “gauge the mood of the nation”, and that country “will definitely give NDA more than 400 seats and the BJP at least 370 seats.”

It is considered that this is the last big speech by the Prime Minister in the 17th Lok Sabha, as general elections are soon to follow.

In a speech that went on for more than an hour and a half, Modi mounted a spirited attack on the Opposition stating that he was convinced that they (opposition parties) have “lost the courage to contest elections and have resolved to stay on the opposition benches for a long time.” He said the third term of the government was not too far.

He said that the Congress had for the last 10 years lost the opportunity to play the role of a constructive Opposition and blamed it solely for the “present condition” of the entire Opposition.

The Prime Minister said the Congress leaders of the past did not display any confidence in the potential of Indians, quoting a speech by former Prime Minister Nehru at a celebration of Independence Day, saying that Indians were indolent and did not compare favourably with people in Europe, U.S.A., Russia and China. He also dug out quotes from a speech by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the same lines.

Speaking on dynastic politics, Prime Minister Modi said that he termed parties dynastic where a particular family takes all the decisions, captures the leadership and the party serves that family, not families where more than one person is in politics, but as part of a party structure.

“My first term was all about filling the gaping holes left by the UPA government, the second was about fulfilling avowed goals, like the abolition of Article 370 that the country had been waiting for, the third term will be one of big decisions, which will lay the foundation of India’s prosperity and security for the next 1,000 years,” Modi said. In his third term, he said the country would be the third largest economy in the world, a “Modi Guarantee”.