Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke the myth that the BJP worked for the “Hindi-speaking people” and asserted that under his (Modi’s) leadership it became the largest party in the world.
Speaking at a book release function, Shah said Modi was the only leader who has been working with “equally great dedication” both in the party as well as in the Government.
Speakers, including Vice-President M Venkaiah Niadu and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi , also praised the leadership of Modi and his contribution to national development and growth.
The Vice President said while Mahatma Gandhi took the freedom struggle out of the hands of the elite to turn it into a mass movement, Modi had converted developmental initiatives into mass movements.
He said that Modi put to effective use his valuable learning to write a development script for his State of Gujarat as its Chief Minister and scaled up the same at national level as Prime Minister.
Addressing the gathering after releasing the book “Modi@20 Dreams Meet Delivery”, Naidu said Modi’s vision, his dreams and Mission India have been shaped by his extensive travels and insightful, experiential journey.
“This is the fundamental differentiator that makes Modi unique in several ways. There is probably no other public figure in contemporary times who has had a comparable experiential journey as Modi,” said Naidu.
Edited and compiled by BlueKraft Digital Foundation and published by Rupa, “Modi @ 20: Dreams Meet Delivery” looks into 20 years of Modi’s model of governance in Gujarat and at the Centre.
It is a compilation of chapters authored by the likes of Shah, Ajit Doval, Sudha Murty, Nandan Nilekani, Arvind Panagariya, S Jaishankar, Lata Mangeshkar, P V Sindhu and Nripendra Misra among others.
On his part the Home Minister elaborated Modi’s contribution to the party and the nation saying under his leadership the BJP reached every nook and corner of the country and broke several myths like it was a party of Hindi-speaking people and had influence only in urban areas and not a party of farmers.
Asserting that Modi Government did not take decisions to please the people but did so for their greater good without any political consideration, Shah said, “Getting such a huge mandate (in 2014), without any surprise, without any family background, without political upbringing, and again people giving him another mandate (in 2019) as Prime Minister is significant. It shows that people of India accepted Modi as their leader and loves from the bottom of their hearts. He won people’s trust.”
The Home Minister said under Modi’s leadership, the BJP has become the largest party in the world and became the party which works in the highest number of states. “He broke many myths. That this is a party which works for the Hindi-speaking people. We are now ruling States from Gujarat to Northeast, from Assam to Manipur, this myth has been broken when we formed the Governments in all these States.
“They said it was an urban party but we won village after village. We broke this myth. They said this was not a party of farmers. But when the BJP won in the cooperatives and the farmers voted for us, this myth was broken too. It has been established now that the BJP has been spread from east to west and north to south and it is a party acceptable to everyone. It happened under Modi’s leadership,” he said.
Shah said under the UPA’s dispensation from 2012-14, people’s trust in multi-party democracy was gradually eroding and people had started thinking that the country’s (governance) system has failed and this system can’t take the country forward. “At that time, the BJP made him (Modi) the party’s prime ministerial candidate. He gave leadership to the party. People chose him as the country’s leader, as their Prime Minister, on the basis of his governance record in Gujarat.”
On Modi’s governance model, the Home Minister said there used to be discord between India’s foreign policy and national security policy and the country’s security policy could never come out of the foreign policy.
“But Modi’s foreign policy has clarified that India wants to make friendship with all countries and our primary goal is India’s security. Such clarity was not made by any leader in the last seven decades,” he said.
Similarly, Shah said there has not been a single opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP) despite the fact that it was formulated by a BJP Prime Minister. “So far all educational policies were framed to provide employment to the children. But this policy has given thrust on improving the skills of the children, their understanding and learning power,” he said.
Shah said, there was no policy on drones and by making drone policy Modi took a big step and created space for business.
Senior BJP leader Naqvi said Modi has defeated “political intolerance and fanatical phobia” of the “Modi Bashing Brigade” through his diligence and determination to “empowerment without appeasement”. Naqvi said that during the last 20 years, Modi has made “development with dignity” a part of “political culture” by shattering “votes grabbing political maze”.