A growth and development oriented government

New Delhi: As the Modi government completes one year in the office on May 26th, words of praise and critique is taking media, both India and abroad and social media by storm.

As hashtags like #Modi365 and #EkSaalModiSarkaar begin to trend on micro-blogging site Twitter and media houses begin rolling packages around the success and failures of the Modi government, political parties gear up for an avid session of mudslinging in the media.

However, edging past the competition, Modi government decided to highlight their successes and impress upon the country’s citizenry their efforts to overshadow and overpower the failures of the previous UPA government by holding a press conference in the national capital.

Addressing the media, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the completion of the one year of the Modi government despite bottlenecks presented by the Opposition and various factions of the media is a sign that the government is here to stay for good and has prevailed with panache.

Stressing on a foreign policy strong ideology of the incumbent government, Jaitley said that even before Modi completed one year at office, he traveled across 18 countries and signed multiple billion dollar deals which has helped India forge a unique place for itself globally.

Reiterating India’s strong position after the successes of Operation Raahat in Yemen and quick response to the Nepal crisis, Jaitley said quick decision making in the face of obstructionism has been the hallmark of this government.

“There is absolute clarity in the direction this government wants to go – towards growth and development,” he said.

Highlighting his department’s involvement in bringing a change in the country, Jaitley said that the government is inching towards implementing the biggest indirect tax reform in the country, the GST, which will create history.

He said all the progress made till date owes to the fact that the government’s focus is on transparency in decision making and removal of ministerial discretions.

Taking a jibe at the previous UPA government who was virtually vanquished in the country in the 2014 General Elections, Jaitley said the government has so far been successful in delivering a year of corruption free governance to the people of India. He said a lot of this was because the abuse of investigating agencies was a practice held by their predecessors and not their government.

He also attributed their success to overwhelming support of regional parties which influenced the attitude of the central government towards the state.

He said: “Every department has been working overtime in this last one year. It has been a directional year. Good governance always has to be blended with clever politics and we are conscious of this.”

The Modi government will complete a year in the office on May 26, 2015.