Alluding to the achievement of several of the BJP’s ideological goals within six months of the second Modi government assuming power, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said his party has given sanctity to the election manifesto by fulfilling almost 90% of the promises made in it. Mr. Shah was speaking at an event to release a book on Prime Minister Modi entitled Karmayoddha .
“You pick the manifesto of the BJP and you can see 90% of the work promises in it has been done. There have been issues that the governments were scared to take up. Be it scrapping of Article 370, Article 35a, giving citizenship to refugees, taking a clear stand on Ram Janmabhoomi issue, removing triple talaq — people were scared to touch them. But Modi has taken a stand on issues with clarity and resolved them,” said Mr. Shah.
“In one way, sanctity of the manifestos has increased. Media persons also started looking at it. On some issues, when I tried to deflect questions, they remind me that it is written in our manifesto. Narendra Modi has created a new culture that people see the manifestos as a road map for the governance,” the Minister added.
The Home Minister’s remarks are also important in the backdrop of the protests over the proposed implementation of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) following the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last year. While the BJP manifesto for the 2019 polls mentions a future implementation of the NRC, Mr. Modi declared at a public meeting in New Delhi that no discussions had taken place on the issue within the government.
‘Challenges faced’
Mr. Shah also went into details of the challenges faced by Mr. Modi when he became chief minister of Gujarat, with the BJP in disarray and the earthquake that hit the State. He asserted that Mr. Modi had removed three demons — appeasement, casteism and dynasty politics — that had infested the country’s governments in the past.
“People have appreciated it and re-elected him for politics of performance.. What will happen and how will it happen, what will people say — these kind of questions have been removed from the system...Narendra Modi government has never taken a decision to please the people. Earlier it used to be like that because they wanted to get the people's votes. But Narendra Modi has taken the decisions that would be good for the people,” the Home Minister said.
