New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday cited Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's new movie "Jawan" to hit out at the Congress, claiming the film has exposed the 10 years of "corrupt and policy paralysis ridden" rule of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Sharing a poster of the film along with the key achievements of the government in nine years, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia wrote on X, "We must thank Shah Rukh Khan for exposing the corrupt, policy paralysis ridden Congress rule from 2004 to 2014 through Jawan Movie." The film reminds all viewers of the "tragic political past" during the UPA government, he claimed.
We must thank @iamsrk for exposing the corrupt, policy paralysis ridden Congress rule from 2004 to 2014 through "🎬 #JawaanMovie, reminds all viewers of the tragic political past during the UPA government.
— Gaurav Bhatia गौरव भाटिया 🇮🇳 (@gauravbhatiabjp) September 13, 2023
As he puts it, "Hum jawaan hain, apni jaan hazaar baar daon par laga… pic.twitter.com/9TNH6sE2RJ
"Jawan" is a father-son story and Shah Rukh is a man of many faces: a soldier, a romantic hero and a Robin Hood-esque figure, who takes on the nexus of politicians and businessmen who are in cahoots.
The film also touches upon issues like government apathy, corruption, farmers suicide, children dying in a hospital due to lack of oxygen, faulty army weapons and dangerous factories near residential areas. In one of the key scenes, the actor also urges the common people to vote sensibly.
Bhatia listed the CWG, 2G and coalgate scams to target the Congress on the issue of corruption and said the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained a "clean record" with no scams in the past nine and a half years.
The Modi government has upheld transparency and integrity, he said.
The BJP leader said that the government provided 2.3 lakh bulletproof jackets, disbursed 1.2 lakh crores through one rank one pension (OROP) scheme, and upgraded the armed forces with Rafale, Apache, and Chinook.
During the Congress-led UPA regime, the 'Gandhi Parivar' prioritised the VVIP choppers over bulletproof jackets for the soldiers, he charged.
On the issue of national security, Bhatia said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) responded "decisively and swiftly" to the Pulwama attack, conducting the Balakot air strikes.
The UPA government rejected former Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major's request for surgical strikes after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, he alleged.
Citing a dialogue of "Jawan" movie, the BJP spokesperson wrote on the microblogging site, "As he (Khan) puts it, 'Hum jawaan hain, apni jaan hazaar baar daon par laga sakte hain, lekin sirf desh ke liye; tumhare jaise desh bechne walo ke liye hargiz nahi.' It's so apt for the Gandhi Parivar."
Bhatia claimed at least 1.6 lakh farmers committed suicides during "Congress era" while the NDA government implemented minimum support price (MSP), credited Rs 2.55 lakh crore directly to the bank account of 11 crore farmers through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.
"Congress Rule extended loans to defaulting friends. Fugitive Vijay Mallya thanked the then PM Manmohan Singh ji for extending further loan, without even repayment of the earlier loans," he further claimed.
The NDA government recovered Rs 6.5 lakh crore from defaulting companies which were "extended loans during the Congress era", and introduced the Insolvency Code, he added.
"Thank you, Shah Rukh Khan. Under the leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji, these issues are now a thing of the past," Bhatia posted on X.