Stressing that the BJP would not allow the prevention of SC/ ST atrocities act or caste-based quotas to be scrapped, BJP president Amit Shah said at the party’s 38th Foundation Day rally at Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai that BJP’s “golden age” would begin after seizing power in West Bengal and Odisha, and securing a thumping majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
He also lashed out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi and charged that he was being needled by NCP chief Sharad Pawar to attack BJP and charged that opposition parties were trying to unite to prevent being swept away by the Narendra Modi wave.
“Lies are being spread… Rahul Baba says the SC/ST act is being demolished. It is not being demolished. (Allegations are being made that) reservations will be scrapped,” he thundered.
“Rahulji and Pawar saheb, listen with your ears open: The BJP will never allow reservations to be scrapped. Not just this, if you try to end (quotas), the BJP will not allow you to,” he said, while listing the proposed development of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s memorial in Indu mills, Mumbai as one of their achievements.
The Rajya Sabha MP underplayed BJP’s loss of two Lok Sabha seats in the by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, including Gorakhpur which was represented by state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. “Rahul Baba,” he scoffed, “we lost the seats, but your party forfeited its security deposit. We have seen the first leader who distributes sweets after his party’s defeat.”
He then listed the states where BJP had trounced Congress to capture power. “I am calling on all BJP workers. This is not the BJP’s golden age. The BJP’s golden age will arrive when we win Odisha, Bengal and the 2019 (Lok Sabha) elections with a complete majority and form a NDA government. In Maharashtra, a NDA government will be formed under the BJP,” he declared.
“I was listening to Rahul Baba now,” he continued. “Rahul Baba has been sitting for few days with Pawar saheb. He has been given an injection by Pawar saheb. He was loudly asking what Modiji has done in four-and-half years. Rahul Baba, you are questioning Modiji?... The people are asking you to account for four generations (of Congress rule).” He then listed the schemes launched by the current government for the welfare of weaker sections of society.
Shah charged that the opposition, which included parties that were otherwise at odds with each other, had come together to save themselves from the Modi wave as the countdown for the 2019 elections had begun. He likened them to animals such as “snakes, mongooses, cats, dogs, cheetahs and tigers” trying to take shelter on a lone peepal tree to prevent being swept away during a flood.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took up the ‘rat-in-Mantralaya’ issue and attacked the opposition for alleging corruption in a pest control contract. “Dont try to cross swords with a chaiwalla (Modi),” he warned Pawar.
Incidentally, it was former Revenue minister and senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse had initially alleged malpractices in the extermination contract.
Fadnavis also called on party workers to counter the attempts made to sour the party’s image in the SC, Dalit and OBC communities.
Munde ‘Lives’
- Years after his death, senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde remains a major draw for the party. Attendees began sloganeering after they found Munde’s photo missing from party posters. Finally, his daughter and Beed MP Pritam Munde Khade had to pacify them.
- After being called a “class monitor” by MNS chief Raj Thackeray, CM Devendra Fadnavis said that while he was the monitor of a full class, his critics were the monitors of an empty one.
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 "Amit Shah at the party’s 38th Foundation Day")
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