Former Union Minister and ex-MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his call to make India an Aatma-nirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).
“India was already an Aatma-nirbhar Bharat. Those who have loss of memory should refresh it. There is a long list of organisations which were established between 1950 and 1970, which eventually helped India become self-reliant,” the former BJP MP, who dumped his parent party in 2019 to join Congress, said on Sunday.
Responding to PM’s call for ‘Aatma-nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, Shatru, who earlier served as Union Health Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet, tweeted in Hindi: “SAIL was formed in 1954 to make India self-reliant in the field of steel production. IITs came into being in 1956 to produce the best engineering graduates, AIIMS in 1956 (in the field of medical science) and DRDO in 1958 to make India self-reliant in the field of defence research.”
Arguing that even in the 1960s, India grew by leaps and bounds, Shatru tweeted (in Hindi) to buttress his point: “HAL came into being in 1964 to make India self-reliant in the field of aircraft production, green revolution in 1965 and ISRO in 1969, thereby making India self-reliant in the field of space technology.”
“The later years were equally productive,” said Shatru, who was twice Rajya Sabha member before becoming Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib twice (in 2009 and 2014). “India became self-reliant in the field of coal production when CCL was founded. Later, NTPC was formed in 1975 and GAIL in 1984,” tweeted Shatru.
“The list is too long how India became a self-reliant nation….In 2020, a bhashan (speech) was prepared to make the country Aatma-nirbhar….Be neutral, Be positive, Be genuine,” tweeted Shatru, taking another jibe at his former party leader.