Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during the launch of the 'Garib Kalyan Maha Abhiyan' along with the report card of the 20 years of the BJP government in the state, in Bhopal.
Credit: PTI Photo
Union home minister Amit Shah released a “report card” of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh and said that it was the BJP that removed the BIMARU tag of the state after it came to power. At a function in Bhopal, where Chouhan, MP BJP president VD Sharma, and state Home Minister Narottam Mishra were present, Shah said that the state was considered in the list of economically-backward states since its inception.
“Ever since Madhya Pradesh came into existence in 1956, Madhya Pradesh has been considered part of the BIMARU grouping, except for 5-6 years in between. The Congress has been in power till 2003, but it was during the BJP government that the state successfully left the BIMARU tag behind,” he said.
Along with Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, MP has long been considered part of the BIMARU grouping of states that lack developmental parameters such as healthcare, education, economic growth, food security etc.
Shah said that the Congress’s misrule had left the state in a bad shape, needing Chouhan to bring in big changes for a major turnaround. He demanded that the Congress, too, give a report card of their work.
"If the Congress has courage, then it should come out with its report card of 50 years of ruling the state. We have started a new tradition of giving accountability in the country wherever we are in power," he said.
Shah said that in the last five years, 1.36 crore people have come out of poverty, and the per capita income rose from ₹ 12,000 in 2003 to ₹ 1.40 lakh in 2023. He added that more than 44 lakh poor families got houses under the PMAY scheme.
He added that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, voters in the state gave 27 out of the total 29 seats to the BJP and in 2019, the BJP won 28 seats. “I strongly believe that in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the people of the state will give this remaining one seat also to the BJP,” he said.