‘Lok Sabha elections crucial’: Amit Shah sounds poll bugle in Chhattisgarh

Rallying support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday asserted that the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would decide the future of the country.

Addressing a public meeting in Janjgir, his first since last year’s Assembly polls, Mr. Shah said the elections were significant for making the country fully developed and a world leader, while slamming the Congress and its governance record at the Centre and the State.

“Friends, the coming election is an election that will decide the future of the country. The coming election is an important election to make the country fully developed and Mother India a world leader. Brothers and sisters, I want to thank the people of Chhattisgarh wholeheartedly. We came in 2014, you gave us 10 out of 11 seats and just now, you formed a BJP government in the State with the highest majority in the Assembly,” he said at BJP’s Vijay Mahasankalp rally that marked the formal launch of the party’s Lok Sabha campaign in the State.

Mr. Shah lauded the Centre’s initiatives, and highlighted the “significant progress” made over the past decade in improving access to essential amenities through a series of statistics.

“Under the leadership of Modi ji, in 10 years, the Central government has worked for the welfare of 60 crore poor people of the country. In these 10 years, drinking water has reached more than 38 lakh houses in Chhattisgarh for the first time after 75 years of the nation’s Independence,” he said.

He further highlighted the initiatives taken by the government to bolster national security and deliver social justice, besides its economic achievements.

“Our country stood eleventh in the table of world economies. Today, it is at fifth place. The Prime Minister’s guarantee is that once we bring the BJP government to power at the Centre again, we will make India the third-largest economic power in the world,” he said.

‘Congress incompetent’

Calling the previous Congress government in the State “incompetent”, Mr. Shah said that it neither controlled the Naxal problem, nor did justice to the people of Chhattisgarh. The senior BJP leader also slammed the Congress over the Ram temple issue.

“Today, I have come to Lord Ram’s maternal home. Chhattisgarh is the maternal birthplace of Lord Ram. Ram Lalla was not able to sit in his house for 500 years because the temple was not built. Congress did not end the issue that had been pending for 500 years in 75 years of their rule, but Modiji solved it, and performed the consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on January 22,” he said.