BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday marked the fourth anniversary of the Modi government, saying it had ended many binaries associated with previous governments and had provided honest, decisive and sensitive policies.
At a press conference here, he characterised the Opposition’s efforts to unite ahead of the 2019 general elections as a move to “remove Prime Minister Modi”, who was trying to end poverty and corruption and bring order.
‘End to appeasement’
“In the past, since Independence, governments have been associated with binaries such as whether it was for the farmers or industrialists, for rural or urban dwellers, for fiscal prudence or big spending on social welfare, for diplomacy or a strong security structure, whether bureaucrats run the government or elected representatives. The Narendra Modi government has ended all these binaries and has provided a corruption-free, decisive and sensitive government. Prime Minister Modi has ended the politics of appeasement and dynasty and ushered in a politics of development,” he said.
Asked if the party felt challenged by the alliance of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, which resulted in its defeat in the byelections to the Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats and is proving a challenge in the upcoming Kairana byelection, Mr. Shah was dismissive of any such suggestion.
“When in the past we heard of U.P. ke do ladke [two boys from Uttar Pradesh, referring to the SP-Congress alliance], the media did some math and gave them 240 seats in the Assembly polls. The BJP ended up getting 325 seats. As for the losses in the bypolls, we are not worried as in 2019, the voting will be different as it will be to choose the Prime Minister of the country. There is one year left for the polls, and our aim is to get a 50% vote share in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
Issue of allies
He said though the Telugu Desam Party had exited the National Democratic Alliance, the Janata Dal(U) had come on board.
Asked about the way the Shiv Sena had been blowing hot and cold about is ties with the BJP and the contest between the two parties in the Palghar byelection in Maharashtra, he said: “Whatever the statements, they are still part of our governments in Delhi and Maharashtra.”
Mr. Shah listed the achievements of the NDA government in detail. He said with the 2016 surgical strikes across the LoC, the government exhibited its political willingness to take on the country’s adversaries. “War is always the last option, but we also have a zero-tolerance policy to anyone violating our borders,” he said.
On the Opposition’s criticism, Mr. Shah said he had put out copious statistics illustrating the government’s achievements and the Opposition was free to dispute them. “I can answer that — how can I answer empty rhetoric that passes for criticism,” he said.
