'Acche Din' has become 'Gale Mein Haddi' for NDA government: Nitin Gadkari

Narendra Modi's 2014 poll slogan of 'Acche Din' (good days) ahead has become "Gale Mein Haddi" (bone stuck in neck) for the National Democratic Alliance government, claimed union minister, Nitin Gadkari, on Tuesday. Moreover, it is the Indian populace that is a dissatisfied lot.

Gadkari made the comment pertaining to the poll punchline of 'Acche Din' when former Member of Parliament, Vijay Darda made a reference of it in one of his questions to the minister. The question was part of a panel discussion during an Infrastructure Conclave, on Tuesday.

Responding to Darda, the minister quipped, "During one of the conferences with NRI's in Delhi, former prime minister, Manmohan Singh, while responding to one of the questions replied that 'good days' will arrive soon."
According to Gadkari, it was Manmohan Singh, who had first used the term, when United Progressive Alliance was in government, and since then it was coined.

"We just used the words 'Acche Din' and it should not be taken in literal sense, and should be interpreted as progress is being made," added Gadkari.

He even blamed the Indian population for not being content and always being a dissatisfied lot. According to him, if a person has a bicycle, s/he would want a motorcycle, once motorcycle is bought, next target would be a car. Therefore, no one ever feels that 'good days' have arrived for themselves.

In one of the media interviews after general elections, BJP president, Amit Shah had made a statement that 'Acche Din' will take 25 years to come, and it is not possible to achieve it in just a term of five years. He had also said that the term was used during the poll campaign just as an electoral idiom (chunavi jhumla). Within the next few days of making the comment, Shah claimed that his statement was twisted by the media.