Next 30-40 years will be era of BJP: Amit Shah at party’s national executive meet

Asserting that the next 30 to 40 years will be the era of the BJP which will make India a “vishwa guru” (world leader), its senior leader Amit Shah said on Sunday the party will end “family rule” in Telangana and West Bengal and also form governments in states where power has so far remained out of its reach.

In his address at the BJP national executive meeting while proposing political resolution, the Union home minister called for ending the politics of dynasty, casteism and appeasement and cited the party’s win in a string of recent polls as an endorsement of its “politics of development and performance”.

He identified southern India as the region for its next round of growth, and said the opposition had become disjointed and dispirited with members of the Congress fighting for democracy within their organisation as its ruling family clung to its position.

He also hailed as “historic” the recent Supreme Court verdict dismissing a plea challenging the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) clean chit to 64 people, including then chief minister Narendra Modi, in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. The court had also come down hard on the petitioners. The apex court has exposed opposition parties, a section of media and some NGOs for their conspiracy to defame Modi, he said.

The BJP leader said Modi received insults, maintained silence while facing the SIT and kept his faith in the Constitution while contrasting this with the Congress’ attempt to spread “anarchy” after its leader Rahul Gandhi was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case.

The opposition party had launched nationwide protests, blaming the ruling party’s vendetta for the probe against its top functionaries.

Briefing reporters on Shah’s speech, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Modi never did the kind of “drama” that Gandhi has done while facing a lawful investigation. The home minister said Modi drank all the poison thrown at him like Lord Shiva and faced the probe.

Sarma parried queries on whether the killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, who was hacked to death by two Islamic fanatics, or the row involving suspended BJP member Nupur Sharma over her objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad was part of deliberations at the national executive meet, but added that specific incidents are generally not discussed at such a conclave where the focus is on “macro” issues.

He, though, alleged that had the Congress not started politics of appeasement, incidents like Udaipur killing might not have happened. The home minister in his address called for ending “dynastic politics, casteism and politics of appeasement” and termed them “greatest sins” and the reason behind the country’s sufferings over the years. Communalism and fundamentalism are products of appeasement, Sarma said.

The home minister in his nearly hour-long speech cited the BJP’s win in a series of polls to assert that it underlined people’s approval of the party’s “politics of development and performance”.

He also sought an end to political violence. Sarma, though, did not elaborate on this. The BJP has in the past accused parties such as the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Left in Kerala of resorting to violence against its workers.

The party’s political resolution also praised the Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment in armed forces which had sparked public protests and criticism from opposition parties, and lauded the government’s courage for taking a host of initiatives for the country’s development, Sarma said.

Claiming that the BJP will end family rule in states like Telangana and West Bengal, Shah said it will come to power in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Odisha, states which have so far remained out of the saffron party’s power march since it formed government at the Centre in 2014.

There was a “collective hope and finding” at the meeting that the BJP’s next round of growth will come from south India, Sarma added.

Targeting the Congress, Shah said it has become a party of family with the Gandhi family not letting internal organisational elections happen because it fears losing its control of the party.

The opposition is disjointed and has been opposing everything good the government does, he said, referring to issues such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, construction of Ram temple, surgical strikes and abrogation of Article 370.

“The Congress has been affected by ‘Modi phobia’ and opposes every decision of the Modi government taken in national interest,” he said.

Lauding the prime minister’s leadership, the home minister said he is now considered as “one of the top leaders” in the world and is sought out for his views on a host of issues ranging from environment to terrorism.

Referring to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, he said the saffron party under the Modi government chose a Dalit, incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind, and now a Scheduled Tribe during the two elections for the top constitutional post and asked party members to publicise the story of Murmu’s life and struggle.

With the BJP in power in all the northeastern states either on its own or as part of alliances, Shah said the region will remain a stronghold of the party. All disputes in the region will be resolved by 2024, he added, a reference to boundary conflicts and militancy there.