Manmohan Singh coined the phrase "achhe din", but it is now associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. "It is Modiji who told us...when Manmohan Singh was PM, he used it, and now it is stuck to us so much that everyone shouts – when will there be achhe din," Gadkari said, according to NDTV.
"It is a bone stuck in our throat," Gadkari said of the phrase, adding that in a country that is "an ocean of dissatisfied souls", it is difficult to bring good days. "Those who have cycles want scooters, and those who have scooters want cars. It is not wrong, but the wealthy are dissatisfied too," Gadkari said.
Singh first used the phrase to respond to a question by Non Resident Indians at a conference in Delhi, Gadkari said. "Then Modiji said it somewhere and it got stuck to us. Still, I believe that achhe din means people have good expectations," he said.
Modi used the phrase achhe din extensively during the BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign. It has since become a key slogan of the party.
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