Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in his first tenure talked of his government plans for 2022, on Monday spoke about the importance of 18th Lok Sabha, which will be constituted after 2024 general elections, and indicated that the BJP is confident of a third consecutive term in power.
Seeking to give a unified time frame of 15 years since 2014 when the BJP formed the government, becoming the first to get a single party majority in the last 30 years, Modi said the 2014-29 period between the 16th to 18th Lok Sabha is very important for a young democracy like India.
Asserting that the last six years have been historic for the country's development, he also stressed that a lot remains to be done in the 'remaining period'.
Drawing the allegory of young age, the Prime Minister said as the age of 16, 17 and 18 years are very important for the youth, so is the time between the 16th and the 18th Lok Sabha for a young nation like India.
Modi's remarks came during a programme to digitally inaugurate 76 multi-storeyed flats in the national capital for Members of Parliament.
Modi said he is confident that the next Lok Sabha will also play a very important role in taking the country ahead in this new decade.
"There is so much for the country that we have to achieve. Be it 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' campaign, or economic targets or many other pledges like these, we have to achieve them during this period," he said.
Modi's talking of plans up to 2029 comes as his second term is scheduled to end in 2024 and BJP chief Nadda has already announced plans for a 120-day nationwide tour targeting to win those Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections which the party lost in 2019.
More than two years before his first tenure ended in May 2019, Modi had in early 2017 itself started talking of his Vision 2022. In his speech after BJP winning UP and Uttarakhand polls in March 2017, Modi called the election results a foundation for a 'New India' and exhorted people to take a pledge to build it by 2022, sending the political pundits into a tizzy as the time frame Modi mentioned was three years beyond his government's tenure at Centre. Since then Modi and his ministers have talked umpteen times about pursuing big goals to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's independence in 2022.
In 2019, Modi won a bigger mandate for the BJP and his government went on a spree to fulfill BJP's core promises. Before the buzz in Opposition could begin for 2024 polls, now the party has set its eyes on 2024 polls.
After securing victory in Bihar, the BJP election machinery has rolled out in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala, which are going to polls in 2021. The focus of the BJP in the four states is with different intensities in the same order as West Bengal, where it had won 18 seats, a nine time jump from 2014, being the main focus.
Nadda's 120-day ‘Rashtriya Vistrit Pravas’ throughout the country during which he will spend the maximum of eight days in UP with 80 Lok Sabha seats, is aimed at toning up the organisation and hunting for new allies before 2024 polls.