NDA will cross the 400-seat mark: PM Modi

Exuding confidence that his government will return to power in the next Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday declared that the BJP alone would get at least 370 seats and that the NDA would cross the 400-seat mark in the Lok Sabha, with the Congress destined to sit in the Opposition for several more years.

In his speech responding to the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to both Houses of Parliament, Mr. Modi said that he could “gauge the mood of the nation” and that the country “will give NDA more than 400 seats and the BJP at least 370 seats.”

The figure of 370 was also a play on the abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution by the Modi government in 2019, which accorded a special status to the then State of Jammu and Kashmir.

He also said that many of the problems the country and Jammu and Kashmir faced were due to the mishandling by former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru.

This is considered the last big speech by the Prime Minister in the 17th Lok Sabha, as general elections are soon to follow.

n a speech that went on for more than an hour and a half, Mr. Modi mounted a spirited attack on the Opposition stating that he was convinced that they (opposition parties) have “lost the courage to contest elections and have resolved to stay on the opposition benches for a long time.”

He said the third term of the government was not too far.

“At the most, 100-125 days remain,” he said, referring to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Abki baar,” (this time around) said Mr. Modi, and BJP members joined him in unison to say “400 paar” (beyond 400).

Referring to the Ram Temple consecration, he said that “not only has Bhagwan Ram returned to his home [Ayodhya]” but that the temple would continue to energise the country into the future.