Gujarat elections 2017 | Congress pushed Gujarat to caste politics: Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the upcoming state Assembly election was not just a fight between two parties or between two individuals for chief minister's chair, but a battle between Congress' casteism and dynastic politics and developmental politics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Gujarat election is to decide if jaativaad (casteism) and vanshvaad (dynastic politics) will win or Narendra Modi's vikasvaad (politics of development)," Shah said before accompanying state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani when the latter filed his nomination from Bhavnagar West Assembly seat.

Asking Congress to clarify what its election issues were, Shah alleged that the party had no issue except opposing Modi.

He said that Congress had pushed Gujarat towards caste politics with its KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) theory between 1985 and 1995, while Modi had put the state back on path of development since 2001. He exuded confidence that BJP will win more than 150 seats in the elections.

Without naming Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), the BJP president also accused Congress of outsourcing its election campaign to people who were bent on dividing the society on caste lines.

Referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's frequent Gujarat visits, Shah said, "Rahul bhai thinks that Gujarat is a tourist spot. I have no problem with it, but I appeal to him to stop playing politics of protest, and to present the account of what UPA government did for Gujarat in 10 years."

Shah said that the gross injustice that was being meted out to Gujarat under the UPA government has been done away with by Narendra Modi. He said that approval for Narmada Dam, which was held back for several years, was granted by Modi within 14 days of becoming PM.

"Narendra bhai gave Bullet Train to Gujarat. He has given a Ro-Ro ferry service to Bhavnagar," he said.

He recalled how Congress had treated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, saying that he was not given Bharat Ratna for several years after his death.