Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Soon after being ratified as the Bhartaiya Janata Party (BJP) president, PM Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah on Saturday stepped up attack on Congress saying that the party neither has an ideology nor cadre, while dubbed BJP as 'a party for the poor'.
Addressing the BJP national council meet here, Shah slammed the former UPA government, saying it had left the country in bad condition as it "failed on all fronts".
Referring to the recent Lok Sabha polls, the new BJP chief said in his maiden speech that the electoral verdict was "defeat of dynasty politics" and the "people rejected appeasement and votebank politics".
"When history will be written, the former UPA government will be known as a government of scams," he said at the convention which endorsed the decision to make him party chief.
Seeking to replace the "ideology" of Congress, BJP's new President Amit Shah today asked cadres to work for expanding the party's reach with focus on states like UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir where assembly polls are due in near future.
He further underlined that the party would not be in government for long unless its reach is expanded and exhorted all the ministers in Narendra Modi government to work for implementation of the party manifesto.
Shah, who is credited with getting BJP-led alliance 73 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, said, "for long Congress 'vichar' (ideology) has been pre-dominant in the country's politics. Now it is time to ensure that our 'vichar' (ideology) has an imprint on nation's politics".
Shah further said that during the General Elections the poor felt that the "BJP is their party (and) a tea seller (Narendra Modi) is going to be the prime minister."
"We got support from the poor," he added at the day-long meet being held at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.
"Hum garibon ki party ke roop me badh rahein hain. (We are moving ahead as the party for the poor)," said Amit Shah who succeeded Rajnath Singh as the party president.
The BJP president recalled that he began his career as an "ordinary worker in a booth committee".
Amit Shah said that BJP can bring "sushasan" (good governance) and bring the country out of "kushasan" (poor governance).
Declaring that the Modi government will ensure good
governance at the Centre, Shah exhorted partymen to commit themselves to the challenging task of winning the Assembly polls in four states by reaching out to people with the strength of well-knit organization and good governance model in various states and the Centre.
Singling out Haryana, the BJP chief said one remembers "land scams" and "some faces" when the mention of the state comes.
"There is a need to change the government in the state. We should see that BJP alone gets the majority," he said, adding any possibility of alliance would be seen later.
"Even if there is an alliance, BJP on its own should have more than 45 (out of total 90)," Shah said.
Talking about Jammu and Kashmir, he said the government in the "very sensitive state" had crossed "all limits of corruption" and people want a change there.
In an apparent reference to Nehru-Gandhi family and Abdullah family, Shah said, "the two families have ensured that money does not reach the poor. We have to highlight this."
He further complimented the Team Modi for keeping the strong foundation and giving a solid roadmap in the last 75 days to lead the nation in the coming times.
Turning to UP, Shah said the law and order situation in
the state is a matter of "serious concern" because of "biased" attitude of the Akhilesh Yadav government.
He alleged that law and order in the state is decided on the basis of "religion".
Noting that BJP has 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Shah said the party has "greater responsibility" than the state government in ensuring peace in the state.
"We have to exercise restraint. But we have to spread awareness about the vote-bank and appeasement policy being followed by the state government," the party chief said.
Talking about Bihar where the party was ruling in alliance with JD(U) before they split last year, he slammed JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar for allying with Lalu Prasad-led RJD.
"Nitish came to power by saying he was fighting against 'jungle raj' of Lalu Prasad. Now he has gone and sat in the lap of same Lalu without any hesitation.. There is no shame. In politics, principles matter more than numbers.. We need to expose this immoral alliance," he said.
Shah credited the "twin" leadership of Narendra Modi and outgoing party chief Rajnath Singh for the spectacular success of the party in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Significantly, he did not name any of the party's allies including its oldest ideological ally the Shiv Sena, while telling partymen that there will be a BJP-led government both in Maharashtra as well as in Haryana.
He said that the unprecedented victory for the party has also brought a challenge before it indicating that the politics of the future could be "BJP versus others", like the earlier years when it was "Congress versus others".
"The Congress ideology has influenced us all these years. Time has come when our ideology needs to be spread. In 2014, the party is going to take a new direction," he said, adding that a Congress-free India can become a reality only if we ensure the BJP s victory in every part of the country.
With PTI inputs
First Published: Saturday, August 9, 2014, 12:34
