It may have been a party national council meet but the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi used the opportunity to not only attack the Congress but to list his vision for the country.
Here are 7 important topics the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate touched upon during his speech that lasted over an hour:
Modi on the Congress and Rahul Gandhi
Speaking a couple of days after the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Modi began his speech by going after the opposition's poll campaign chief.
Expressing his sympathy for the Congress workers who assembled for the party assembly he said, " In Congress national conference it was all about saving party, here it is all about saving the nation...They came hoping for a Prime Ministerial candidate and went away with three cylinders of LPG."
Modi at the BJP's national council meet. AFP
He questioned the democratic principles of the Congress party that Rahul Gandhi had spoken of and questioned why Sardar Vallabhai Patel had not been the first Prime Minister of the nation. He also questioned why Rajiv Gandhi was made Prime Minister on Indira Gandhi's assassination without any transparency.
"In 2004, the Congress Parliamentary committee hadn't picked Manmohan Singh to be PM, but Madam Sonia Gandhi," Modi said.
He claimed the decision behind making Manmohan Singh had also been taken by the Congress President and the Congress couldn't claim to be democratic. However, he said he had a better explanation for why the Congress didn't pick a Prime Ministerial candidate
"I see a human reason for the Congress decision. When defeat is imminent, will any other mother sacrifice her son?"
"This is a mother's statement: Nahin, nahin. Mere bete ko bachao (No, no, save my son)"
Modi's policy plans
For perhaps the first time the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate made assurances about real policy plans that he had in the event that he was victorious.
"There is no real time data on anything. Our first step will be to have real time mechanism to know crop output," he said.
"We should have real time data to know when to import and when to export," Modi said.
The Prime Ministerial candidate said there needs to be a price stabilisation fund to ensure the poor could afford food. He spoke of focussed skill development institutes, that were dynamic in their courses and based on industry needs, to fight unemployment.
He also promised to bring back black money stored in accounts abroad.
"Every paisa stored in a foreign account illegally will be brought back and used to benefit the poor," Modi said.
He spoke of developing a national gas grid to end fights over LPG cylinders and also said the Indian Railways could be modernised in order to have a bullet train network across the country.
Modi spoke of ensuring urbanisation across the country in order to boost growth and said the country needed to ensure more twin cities and satellite towns to encourage it.
The BJP would ensure the empowerment of the poor, ensuring the creation of institutes of higher learning in every state, reforming healthcare, developing the dairy industry, and ensuring power supply across the country.
Modi on Mani Shankar Aiyar's chaiwallah barb
"These days there is a lot of talk about chai-wallahs, who are all walking around proudly," he said, to laughter from his audience.
"They are naamdaar but I am a kaamdaar," he said, adding that his focus would remain of delivering on his promises.
"They think they are part of a family that has always been respected and we have to take on someone from a backward caste? A man whose mother used to work in others houses cleaning utensils? A man who once sold tea on trains? How can we stoop to this battle, they think"
On improving the federal structure
Claiming that this was not like any election but one of "hope and aspiration", Modi said there was a disparity in how the nation had developed and promised to ensure inclusive and complete development across the nation.
"We want to move ahead with a vision of inclusivity. We should not consider regional aspirations a problem. They were earlier viewed as a burden but regional aspirations can also be viewed as an opportunity," he said.
He said that having been the chief minister of a state he understood the importance of the federal structure of the nation.
"I can understand troubles of every state and chief minister. BJP will empower the federal structure of nation," he said.
He said he wanted to form teams where the PM along with Chief Ministers, bureaucrats in states and Centre worked together to ensure the entire nation developed individually and collectively.
Modi's seven point agenda
The BJP's Prime ministerial candidate said there were seven things that policy cater to: Preserving family structure and values, growth of agriculture, empowering women, preserving forests and land, protecting the youth and developing it, strengthening democratic institutions and developing institutions of knowledge.
Modi on women
The BJP's prime ministerial candidate, like his counterpart in the Congress, spoke of empowering women and ensuring that they went from being homemakers to 'nation builders'.
"What is happening with our mothers and sisters in the country leaves us shame faced. Dignity of women should be a commitment," he said.
"We should have a 'beti bachao, beti padhao' campaign. There isn't anything worse than female infanticide in this era," Modi said.
Modi's 5T plan
Modi also unveiled his 5T formula for developing the nation: Talent, Tourism, technology, Tradition and Trade.
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