Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday, 12 June 2026 credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's welfare policies for lifting 25 crore people out of poverty over the past 12 years, sharing the claim in a post on X that tagged the Prime Minister directly.

Writing in Gujarati, CM Patel stated: 'ગત 12 વર્ષમાં માનનીય મોદીજીના નેતૃત્વમાં જનકલ્યાણકારી યોજનાઓના અસરકારક અમલીકરણ થકી દેશના 25 કરોડ લોકો ગરીબીમાંથી બહાર આવ્યા છે.' ['In the last 12 years, through the effective implementation of public welfare schemes under the respected Modi-ji's leadership, 25 crore people of the country have come out of poverty.']

Context

Bhupendra Patel, who has served as Chief Minister of Gujarat since September 2021, is a senior BJP leader who regularly amplifies the central government's development narrative. His post comes as the BJP marks over a decade of Narendra Modi's tenure as Prime Minister, which began in May 2014. The claim of 25 crore people exiting poverty is being circulated by party leaders as a headline achievement of the Modi era.

Policy Backdrop

The Union government's poverty-reduction strategy since 2014 has centred on saturation-mode delivery of direct-benefit-transfer-enabled schemes. Key programmes include Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for housing, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana for cooking-fuel access, Jal Jeevan Mission for piped water, and financial inclusion drives under Jan Dhan Yojana. NITI Aayog's 2023 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report documented a reduction of approximately 13.5 crore people in multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21, citing improvements across health, education, and living-standard indicators. The figure of 25 crore cited by CM Patel covers a longer window through 2026 and has not been independently verified from available data.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the schemes cited are rural poor households, particularly in states with high multidimensional poverty rates such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Welfare economists and policy researchers have broadly acknowledged directional progress in reducing deprivation on indicators such as sanitation, cooking fuel, and bank-account access, while also flagging concerns about scheme targeting, leakages, and the distinction between multidimensional and income-based poverty metrics. BJP-governed state governments, including Gujarat, have used such national metrics to reinforce their alignment with the central government's development agenda.

What's Next

The next scheduled NITI Aayog MPI update is expected to provide fresh data that will either corroborate or contextualise the 25 crore figure. Parliamentary committees and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are also periodically scrutinising scheme targeting and fund utilisation, which could add further detail to the poverty-reduction picture. As the BJP approaches the anniversary of a decade-plus in government, welfare metrics are likely to remain central to the party's political communication, with state leaders such as CM Patel continuing to relay national achievements to regional audiences.