Mumbai: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari credited former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the phrase “Acche Din” at an event in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
The minister traced the etymology to a Delhi conference, when Manmohan Singh promised Acche Din in the future in response to questions from NRIs at the event.
“Then Modi-ji said it somewhere and it got stuck to us,” Gadkari said.
Achhe din kabhi nahi aate. Achhe din ke naare gale mein fasi haddi hain. (Good days never come. The slogan of Achhe din is a bone stuck in the throat for the National Democratic Alliance government.), said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister.
“It is a bone stuck in our throat. Our country is such an ocean of dissatisfied souls that Acche Din never come…media should not misinterpret me…Those who have cycles want scooters, and those who have scooters want cars. It is not wrong, but the wealthy are dissatisfied too.”
Responding to a query by former MP Vijay Darda, the minister said, “We just used the words ‘Achhe Din’ and it should not be taken in the literal sense. It should be interpreted as progress is being made.”
The promise of Acche Din was a top keyword in BJP’s campaign for the 2014 national election. But the phrase deemed a big hit with voters has since been mocked by opposition parties and BJP critics to target the government on what they call unfulfilled promises.
PM Modi had extensively used the ‘acche din’ slogan during the last Lok Sabha elections.
(With inputs from PTI)