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BHOPAL — Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ended the politics of casteism, corruption, appeasement and dynasty that prevailed earlier, ushered in “politics of performance” and raised the stature of Indian passport.
Shah paid a daylong visit to Madhya Pradesh, where he encouraged BJP workers in Gwalior and Khajuraho to strive for the party’s victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and later spoke at an event in Bhopal.
Madhya Pradesh has 29 Lok Sabha seats of which the BJP had won 28 in 2019.
“After independence, politics of caste, corruption, appeasement and dynasty prevailed. Modiji has finished them off in the last 10 years and set the trend of politics of performance,” Shah said in Bhopal.
He urged people to make an analysis of the time under Modi’s stewardship and the earlier governments.
Naxalism, terrorism and extremism are nearing their end, he asserted.
At the moment, the BJP's chief strategist said, the fight is between two groups. “One consists of patriots who want to make the country a developed nation under the leadership of Modi and the other that nurtures dynasties, said, drawing analogies with ‘Pandavas and Kauravs’.
"(Opposition) INDIA bloc is an alliance of dynastic politics. Sonia Gandhi wants her son to be the PM,” he said, adding that NCP founder Sharad Pawar is keen on promoting his daughter, TMC chief Mamta Banerjee wants her nephew as chief minister.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and DMK chief M K Stalin also want their sons to become CMs, he said.
The upcoming Lok Sabha elections are crucial for the world’s biggest democracy as about 100 crore people will exercise their franchise, he said.
Shah said that from the time of Jan Sangh, a forerunner of the BJP, the saffron party has never considered elections as a means of gaining power.
“We have accepted elections as a festival of democracy, considering it a medium to reach out to people with our principles and ideology. When we were in power, we considered the elections as a medium to give people the account of our achievements,” he said.
Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, north-east and Naxal-hit areas, Shah said there has been a 70 per cent decline in violence in these areas, and deaths caused due to terrorism, insurgency and left-wing extremism have reduced by 72 per cent.
Theatres have opened in Kashmir after 30 years and the Valley has become “jewel of India”. “Two crore tourists from the country and world have visited Kashmir and enjoyed its beauty in a peaceful atmosphere,” he said.
“Terrorism, Naxalism and extremism are gasping for breath and they will find it hard to raise their head after one more mandate,” he said.
The BJP government at the Centre brought 60 crore poor people into the mainstream by providing them with basic amenities like houses, toilets and tap water.
Under the Modi government, the country has come out of collective inferiority complex and the respect for India’s passport has increased, he said.
“After you gave a chance to Modi in 2014, the respect of the country has grown across the world. Seeing the Indian passport, people overseas now ask ‘have you come from Modi ka Bharat?’. This is the change that has come in the world for India in the last 10 years,” he said.
Attacking the Congress, he said, “If we build parliament (building), they say what is the need for it.”
The Congress has been “launching” Rahul Gandhi repeatedly since 20 years, he said.
“They launch Rahul Gandhi with a new look but this rocket doesn't launch. Instead, it backfires every time. They again come out with the same rocket,” Shah said, adding that there is “Narendra Modi who didn't face even a single accusation”, he asserted.
The Union minister claimed that a Congress MP said that the country should be divided into North and South.
“What has happened to the party of leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad and Mahatma Gandhi? It even couldn't distance itself from such statements. How can you say such a thing? I assure you that nobody can dare do this as there is Narendra Modi government,” Shah said.
Earlier in the day, Shah spoke to BJP workers in Gwalior and Khajuraho as part of his party’s preparedness for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
In Gwalior, he asked the BJP workers to strive for polling of 370 additional votes in each booth, compared to the last general polls, to achieve the party’s seat target in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Shah addressed nearly 400 leaders and workers of the booth management committee of Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior-Chambal cluster comprising four Lok Sabha seats - Morena, Bhind, Guna and Gwalior.
Each vote counts for the party, Shah said as he asked the workers to ensure polling of additional 370 votes in each booth, compared to the last elections, a local BJP leader, who attended the meeting, quoted the minister as saying.
Addressing about 23,000 booth-level BJP workers at Khajuraho, Shah urged them to resolve to give the Modi government a third term at the Centre with more than 400 seats, asserting that the coming elections were about making India a superpower and the world's third-largest economy.
Shah said the Congress during its 10-year tenure (between 2004 and 2014) had indulged in scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore.
Hailing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya under the Modi government, Shah said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi used to take swipes at him by saying the saffron party claims it will build the temple but will not give people the date of construction.
Listing out achievements of the party, Shah said the BJP regime at the Centre has ensured 5 kg of free ration monthly to more than 80 crore poor people, provided tapped water to 14 crore families, and given INR 6,000 annual assistance to 11 crore farmers.
The next five years will be the time to lay the foundation of a “great Bharat”, he said.