Shah said while victory is important, party workers should be committed to spreading the party’s ideology as well (Source: BJP4India/Twitter)Exactly a month after the BJP lost three key states in Assembly elections, party chief Amit Shah on Saturday told party workers to not lose hope, as a victory in Lok Sabha elections would mean the party rules from Panchayat to Parliament for a long time, while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley urged them to control the narrative ahead of the polls.
“In the elections in the three states (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh), the results were not good. Our opponents won, but we were not defeated. Defeat is what happened to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal (state elections) —- one has to look for the Congress’s presence (in those states). That’s defeat,” Shah said while commenting on the political resolution passed at the party’s national convention at the Ramlila Ground in the national capital.
“We have not lost ground. We should not give up hope,” Shah told the 12,000-odd party leaders and workers from across the country.
He said the Congress and parties born as its “offshoots” have made politics dynasty-oriented, casteist and of appeasement. This, he maintained, has “adversely affected the (country’s) development process.”
Shah said while victory is important, party workers should be committed to spreading the party’s ideology as well. “There should be no voter in the country whom you have not approached with a picture of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi,” he told them.
In the concluding session of the two-day conclave, Shah reiterated the importance of winning the upcoming elections: “If we manage a massive victory, the BJP will rule the country from Panchayat to Parliament for a long time. It is a very crucial election for the country, and for the party.”
Lauding the Modi government for its achievements, Shah said, “No party or alliance can defeat the BJP if it has the blessings of 22 crore families that have benefited from government schemes.”
Earlier in the day, Union Finance Minister Jaitley, who heads the publicity team for the BJP’s election campaign, told party workers to ensure that the BJP decides and controls the Lok Sabha election narrative.
Accusing the Opposition of creating a “false narrative”, Jaitley said the BJP should counter it with facts on Modi’s leadership and his government’s performance. Mocking the opposition parties’ attempts to forge an alliance against the BJP-led NDA, he said it is a failed idea with a shelf life of a few months. “They (opposition parties) say they can’t compete with the BJP on leadership, performance or ideology. So they say they will try to fight us through alliances,” he said.
