New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party national president
Amit Shah reaffirmed the BJP’s confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership at News18’s Agenda India session on Sunday, adding that the BJP “does not have a number two” in the party. Agenda India saw a confluence of some of the biggest newsmakers who brought forth their agenda for the nation. Apart from Amit Shah, several prominent political personalities, including
Nirmala Sitharaman,
Kapil Sibal, Prakash Javadekar and
Manish Tewari, graced the event.
Here are Shah’s top quotes at the event:
On Party Leadership: There is only one number one in our party and that is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Were you to look for a number two after him, you wouldn’t find any. As far as the leadership of the party is concerned, I’m very happy to be leading the world’s largest party and often seek suggestions from my seniors whenever occasion.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra: Media covers Priyanka drinking water, putting lipstick. That’s not a big deal for us. She has been in politics for 12 years now, this is the 13th.
NYAY: There is no dearth of schemes. Their effectiveness lies in implementation. From Nehru to Indira to Sonia to Rahul, they have announced schemes, but five generations later, we are still poor. Why? Slogans are useless, one needs to have the will to implement schemes, which Modiji has.
UP Mahagathbandhan: The age of votebank politics is over. People make up their own minds. Two parties coming together to combine their strength would have worked in the years of votebank politics, but not anymore.
Rahul Contesting from Wayanad: Amethi is tough for him this time. Smriti Irani has visited Amethi in last five years more than Rahul. I’m not saying he ran away to Wayanad because Amethi is tough for him
Ram Temple: We haven’t moved away from our promise of building a ram temple. It is our commitment. We don’t accept it as disputed land, it is for the opposition to make it clear if they want temple or not.
PM Modi’s ‘Mission Shakti’ address: Who if not the man with the mandate of the people will inform the nation about satellite strikes? Since Indira Gandhi’s time, it is the person with the mandate who makes such crucial announcements.
Terror Policy: We have changed the battleground. Earlier it was here, now after every terror incident we pay them back in the same coin and we hit where they are based. If strikes like the Balakot operation were carried out 10 years ago, attacks like Pulwama wouldn’t have happened.
Nationalism as a Poll Plank: What’s wrong in fighting elections on the basis of nationalism? I want every election to be fought on the basis of nationalism.
Jammu and Kashmir: We are committed to scrapping Article 370, but the only hitch is the lack of our strength in the Rajya Sabha and that too will hopefully change in 2020. Besides, in Kashmir, we have killed maximum number of terrorist by any govt.
China and Masood Azhar: It was Nehru who gave China the UNSC membership on a platter. China is isolated in its veto for Masood Azhar, eventually they will have to support us.
Chowkidar Campaign: It is not a BJP campaign, it is a campaign started spontaneously by the people of India to protest the insult meted out to the PM.
Economy: The whole world is looking at India with respect. India will be in top five economies by March. From Nehru to Rahul, they have been promising to eradicate poverty. But what happened?
Unemployment: The structure of GDP has changed. Eight crore households have access to toilets now, shouldn’t that reflect in the GDP? Data should be aligned with development priorities. Economists should think about it.
Rafale: Accusations stick as per your personality or party. Accusations stick on your family not on someone with a spotless reputation like Modi.
Poll Results: The numbers of BJP as well as NDA will improve in this general election. Our existing numbers won’t come down in UP. We will make substantial gains in the northeast, Odisha and West Bengal (23 from Bengal, 20-21 from north-east).
Cow Protection and Lynching: Cow protection and mob lynching are two different topics. If cow protection is wrong, would you call Mahatma Gandhi or Vinobha Bhave wrong? As for lynching, we have taken strict action against culprits wherever BJP is ruling.