Murmu win fitting reply to those who only talk of tribal empowerment: Amit Shah

AHMEDABAD: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday called the victory of Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election a historic event in India’s 75-year post-Independence history.
“This is the first time a person from the most backward community among tribals, the Santhals, has been elevated to the top post of our country. This is a major victory for democracy,” Shah said.
“It is normal for one of the two contesting presidential candidates to win, but for Droupadi Murmu to become the President — from Shrimati Droupadi Murmu to Mahamahim Draupadi Murmu — our first citizen, is a major achievement for our 75-year-old democracy,” he said.
Shah was speaking at the launch event of the ‘Citizen First’ mobile app and the ‘Trinetra’, a state-level Central Command and Control Centre for the police, at the National Forensic Sciences University auditorium. Shah said: “It was under the leadership of Atalji that Missile Man, APJ Abdul Kalam, was elected president. Kalamji contributed towards securing India by strengthening the country’s defence system and putting India on to the world map in science. Many were surprised at how BJP supported the candidacy of Abdul Kalam.
“Under Modiji’s leadership, our President, Ram Nath Kovind, who belongs to the poorest of communities, was elected the President. Kovindji struggled all through his life and, finally, made it to the top constitutional post.”
Shah took pot shots at critics and said, “Droupadi Murmu’s election is a befitting reply to those who pay lip service to tribal empowerment; such individuals are known only to splinter society and do politics in the name of tribal empowerment.”
On the occasion of "Azadi ka Amrut Mohotsav" and following PM Narendra Modi’s appeal, Shah reiterated that on August 13, 14 and 15, every citizen should hoist the tricolour at their home.
Shah said: “These days you hardly hear about riots in Gujarat, one or two maybe. There was a time in Gujarat when we spent 205 days of the 365 days under curfew. I am not saying this. This is there on the NCRB records.”
Shah said he remembers reading a board on the highway outside Porbandar, in 1984, while on a road trip to Jetpur. “The board announced: ‘Kaydo ane vyavastha ni had ahiyan puri thay che, Porbander aahiyanthi sharu thay che.’ (The limits of law and order end here, Porbandar starts from here),” he said, adding that the BJP-led government in the state had played a significant role in eliminating such gangs.