BJP president Amit Shah waves as he arrives at Chennai Airport to meet with party functionaries, in Chennai on Monday, July 9, 2018. (Source: PTI Photo)
Launching his poll preparation tour ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP chief Amit Shah addressed a gathering of about 8,000 people in Chennai Monday. His day-long meetings, held at Golden Beach Resorts on the city outskirts, continued till late evening.
Addressing a gathering of party cadres from various districts and Puducherry in the evening, Shah’s speech largely focused on resisting a “false campaign” against the BJP in Tamil Nadu and to list out the number of schemes and money spent by the NDA government in the state.
“There is a false campaign against BJP in Tamil Nadu. Let me tell you, BJP is the only party that can protect Tamil culture and Tamil language,” he said, recalling that it was the Narendra Modi government that first introduced railway tickets in Tamil.
“Let me promise you, if BJP is elected to power in Tamil Nadu, Tamil pride will go beyond the borders, reaching across India,” Shah said.
“All of you have to return to your native place and tell people about our government’s schemes. ….And in October, we will have a much bigger rally in Tamil Nadu addressed by Narendra Modi himself with over 1.5 lakh people,” he said, adding that the party will take decisions about electoral alliance in September and October, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He said the alliance will include “non-corrupt parties” in the state.
“Maybe Tamil Nadu is one of the states with maximum corruption… Every voter should join BJP to make Tamil Nadu a corruption-free state,” he said.