Union home minister Amit Shah (File photo)

NEW DELHI: The despondency and disappointment in 2013 prior to the Modi government assuming office had raised questions in the public mind whether multi-party democracy was failing and there was a need to remember this to appreciate the NDA’s achievements, home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an industry function, Shah asked the audience to look back to better understand the significant achievements of a government elected with full majority in 2014 that brought an end to 30 years of coalition regimes.

“I am taking you back so that you realise (the situation in) 2019. I also accept that if you look only at 2019, there is a lot to be done. You will realise the gains when you look back. Thirty years of coalitions ended and for the first time, a non-Congress party got a majority. A story of development began,” he said.

Seeking to underline the UPA ’s failures, Shah said, “After 70 years of independence, a question arose in the mind of every citizen of the country — could it be that our multi-party parliamentary democratic system is failing? There was deep disappointment. This was the picture in 2013. Every day, there was news of corruption. Our soldiers were being beheaded. There were protests... Anna Hazare , Baba Ramdev . Every minister felt he was a PM. No one thought the PM was PM. There was policy paralysis.”

The minister said in its first term, the Modi government took no less than 50 major decisions and said more work would be done in the current tenure. He said the Constitution makers chose a multi-party democratic system after a great deal of thought. “The objective was a welfare state. Everybody was to get their rights and equal opportunities,” he said, arguing the UPA’s failures soured the national mood.

He said the government was “sensitive” and looking into concerns of businessmen, including those related to reforms initiatives. “I agree there are many teething problems in initial phases. Which reform doesn’t have teething problems? Such problems are being continuously rectified, but it is also true that only those citizens who are ready to bear some initial difficulty have the right to enjoy the fruits of reforms later,” he said.

