BJP video extols PM's 30 days in office

In a five-and-a-half-minute video released on social media on Thursday afternoon, the Bharatiya Janata Party listed various steps taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first 30 days in office. These included early-morning wake-up calls to ministers, ensuring there was no nepotism in the council of ministers, surprise visits to government offices and bureaucrats being given the freedom to work and the confidence to take decisions.

The video, in Hindi, said, “What all can’t be achieved in 30 days! An appropriate decision does deliver the desired result.” It termed the new government’s first month “30 days of action” and enumerated “successes” such as a small Cabinet and ministers’ 100-day agenda.

The video talked about the PM’s meetings with secretaries, assuring them of independence in decision-making and giving them the confidence that he would back them. The past month, the video said, was “thirty days of team-building”, when ministers were “empowered” by Modi’s mantra “don’t touch feet, touch hearts” and “30 days of women’s empowerment”, as, for the “first time in the history of independent India”, six Cabinet ministers were women, the video claims. "Thirty days of hard work" that "impressed" the entire system and of a time when there was no nepotism in selecting ministers, it further claims.

"Thirty days that Delhi witnessed for the very first time" with cleaner government offices, stress on simple smart work and not heavy paperwork, a beginning to the culture of "early morning wake up calls" - a reference to Modi calling up ministers and senior bureaucrats early morning - as also his surprise visits to government offices, introduction of "brainstorming" in the workings of the government and of a time where not rules but ideas were given importance. "Now officials don't present files but bullet point based action plans," the video claimed. "Work has increased but so has the time (to do that work)," it said.

The video goes on to list several other of Modi government's decisions like cleansing of river Ganga and decision to increase the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on river Narmada. Looking ahead the video says bullet trains would speed up development, cleaning Ganga and cleansing the system of corruption would go hand in hand, electricity would reach every village. The video shows a visual of a valley to say Kashmiri Pandits would return to their cultural homeland. "It is the beginning of India's growth and development, of the twittering of sone ki chidiya," the video signs off.