Ahmedabad:

BJP president Amit Shah today urged the party carders to be prepared and organized to take the party beyond 150 mark in Gujarat Assembly polls this year.

Addressing Vijay Vishwas Sammelan, a huge gathering of party workers which was attended by thousands, on the Sabarmati riverfront, Shah, who was earlier accorded grand welcome on his arrival here on the first visit to home state Gujarat after the spectacular victory of the party in UP and Uttrakhand with formation of party government in 4 states including Goa and Manipur, said that the people of UP had resolved to make BJP government there with more than 300 seats at the bank of holy Ganges in Kanpur while the resolve for BJP government with more than 150 seats in Gujarat is being taken beside historic Sabarmati, where the foundation for the freedom struggle of the country was laid.

He said that when Narendrabhai was CM, BJP had got 128 seats and now when he was PM, no big arithmetic is needed to understand as to how many seats the BJP should win. Saluting the people of UP, he said that the results of recently held assembly polls in five states was an indicator of PM Modi’s popularity.
‘He had in the very beginning said that his government would be of poor, dalits, farmers and weaker sections and he has proved it in the two and a half years of his governance. This was the reason behind the victory with over 300 seats in UP,’ he said.

He said that BJP has scaled new heights owing to the sacrifices of BJP workers. ‘The BJP has become a party with 11 crore members and 1385 MLAs with government in 15 states, around 400 seats in both houses of Parliament from a modest beginning of 10 member Jansangh (predecessor of BJP), which Nehru ji had predicted would not come to power even after the expiry of 20 generations and Rajiv Gandhi had termed ‘family planning party’ owing to being limited to just 2 seats during his government,’ Shah said.

Shah said that he has no hesitation in saying as the BJP president that Modi has become the most popular leader of Independent India.
‘He has given the inclusive Gujarat model of development and also contributed a great deal in increasing the fame of the country around the world. The credit to start an invincible journey of BJP also goes to him,’ the BJP president said.
Taking a dig at opposition congress’ hyped polls campaign ‘Congress Aave Chhe’ (Congress is coming), the BJP leader said that the opposition must hear it with open ear that the BPJ has not lost even a single election in Gujarat since 1990 and Cong for the last five terms starts its tall claims (Shaikh Chilli ke dawe) about winning elections in the year of poll which breaks to pieces on the day of counting every time. ‘ But this time as it started a bit earlier, it did not need to wait till long and ended on the day the results of five state’s polls were declared,’ he said.

Shah said that Modi has started a new era of politics called ‘politics of performance’ by ending the caste, family, appeasement based politics.

Talking about Gujarat he said,’ Many of those present here were not even born in 1995 prior to which the plight of Gujarat was horrible under Congress rule. Electricity was available for only 5 to 6 hours, curfew was imposed for up to 200 days a year. Congress had spread the poison of castism to far flung villages. Police used to burn crops in North Gujarat and Anand. This was how the rule of Congress was. After the coming of Modi government electricity is a 24 hours affair. He even furthered the Narmada project, the foundation of which was laid during Nehru’s rule and took the water supply up to Khavda. In his 13 years rule people had forgotten curfews and riots. The rate of growth of agriculture sector in the state reached 12 %. The Sabarmati which my son in his childhood during Congress days could not recognize as a river has been filled to the brink with Narmada water here. Educational institutions have been set up and lakhs of crores of investment has been roped in through Vibrant Gujarat summits. Congress had been a synonym to caste and family politics, appeasement and riots and curfews while BJP is to transparent governance with curfew-less law and order,’ Shah said.

He warned the party workers about the false-propaganda of Congress but said that it would ultimately benefit BJP. ‘As the election in Gujarat comes closer the Congress would start its agenda of false allegations and propaganda. But I tell them that the more mud of falsity they create the more Lotus (BJP’s symbol) would bloom,’ Shah said.

Taking a dig at Aam Admi Party (AAP) Shah said that it was like a mushroom which comes out at the time of elections and disappears thereafter.
‘Do you all know AAP party or not. It pops up like mushroom every time an election comes and then disappears. In the last Loksabha polls it contested 432 seats to win only 4 and lost deposits on most of the seats. In Paunjab assembly polls it contested 170 to win only 20 and lost deposits on 25 seats. In Goa it could not win even a single seat but contested on all 40 to lose deposits on 38,’ he said.

He said that after Modi’s becoming PM, BJP won panchayat to parliament elections. In several states including Haryana, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand assembly polls and even made strong presence in states like Kerala and West Bengal. It has also spread saffron presence with wins in many local body polls. The chariot of development has moved from Kashmir to Kanyakumari ‘But Congress lost everywhere still it is raising slogan ‘Congress Aave Chhe’ when people say Congress Jave Chhe (Congress is going),’ he said.

Shah said that after assuming the office of PM, Modi has done so many things for Gujarat. He raised the central assistance to one lakh 42 thousand cores against 43 thousand crores/five year of UPA regime. The grant has also been increased from 8486 crores to 70962 crores. The Modi government was making a new scheme every fortnight and so far made 93. Lakhs have been benefitted from these including Ujjwala, JanDhan, Mudra , Digital India and Skill India schemes.

He also lambasted Rahul Gandhi for his statements about no change in the situation in Kashmir. ‘He must be looking at the things through an Italian spectacle. Earlier the Pakistan use to start firing and end it on the border. Now it is India which ends it. PM Modi had given free hand to Indian army to conduct surgical strikes after Uri attack which increased respect for India across the world while during UPA rule our soldiers were beheaded and the government did not bother,’ he said.

Taking the discourse back to Gujarat election in the end Shah said,’ the victory chariot (Vijay Rath) of Modi ji would arrive in Gujarat in November. ‘Are the party cadres ready for this. Should I tell Narendrabhai that you all are ready. The coming polls are not going to be a common one. If we fight it under the leadership of CM Ruapni, DyCM Nitin Patel and state BJP president Jeetu Vaghani in a well organized way then the 150 figure can be a cake walk, We should resolve to further the victory chariot of Modi ji in Gujarat with over 150 seats this time around’ he said.

DeshGujarat

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