PM Modi enshrined ‘politics of performance’: Home Minister
Jammu, Mar 15: Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Amit Shah Friday reiterated that the BJP would win more than 370 seats in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls under the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who enshrined “politics of performance.”
Shah, while attending the India Today Conclave at the union capital, also sought to allay misgiving about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The Home Minister asserted that it had no provision to snatch citizenship and asked Muslims not to fall prey to the opposition's malicious propaganda. He reiterated that it had no link with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), whatsoever.
While responding to queries about ruckus over electoral bonds, he put the opposition, mainly Congress, in the dock and asked it to come clear vis-à-vis accounts of political donations by industrial conglomerates after independence till the introduction of electoral bonds.
“Where are the accounts of those transactions? The money that earlier used to flow to the parties was secret and hence it was black money. Electoral Bond has been introduced to end the dominance of black money in politics. Coming back to the present, what is this propaganda? As a matter of fact, BJP having 303 MPs got Rs 6000 Cr while rest of the parties with 242 MPs got Rs 14000 Cr,” he said.
Before taking up questions about electoral bonds, Shah made it clear that he would not comment on the decision or direction of the apex court yet would only react to the political parties’ propaganda about it.
Home minister also stoutly defended different alliances of the party stating that “politics is a complex subject; it’s Chemistry and not Physics.”
ON ELECTORAL BONDS RUCKUS
In response to queries about electoral bonds, he said that they had been introduced to end the dominance of black money in politics.
“Earlier money was taken in cash. But did that transaction ever become public? It has been said that the electoral bonds have benefitted the BJP. Now Rahul Gandhi has made a statement that it is the biggest extortion activity. I want to make my stance clear about it. The BJP has got approximately Rs 6000 Cr. Where did the rest of the bonds go? TMC has got Rs 1600 Cr, Congress got Rs 1400 Cr, BRS got Rs 1200 Cr, BJD got Rs 750 Cr and DMK got Rs 639 Cr. We have got Rs 6000 Cr despite having 303 MPs and the rest got Rs 14000 Cr against 242 MPs. What is the ruckus about? I can say that once the accounts are taken, they (opposition) will not be able to face you all (media),” he said.
“I want to ask you whether the big industrial conglomerates did not ever make any political donations after independence. If yes, where are the accounts for that? Bond is not black money, because everything is shown in the balance sheet of the company there is no secrecy and hence it is not black money. The money that earlier used to flow to the parties was secret and hence it was black money. It is also reflected in the balance sheet of the political party. Bond is deposited in the bank accounts and no one can misuse it,” he said.
ON CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) ACT
Regarding the criticism and political controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), he said that it (CAA) was passed in 2019.
“There itself we expressed our will. Now we have only passed the rules. So where is the question of timing here? The people, who oppose laws based on religion support Muslim Personal Law. The Congress leaders said during the partition that the minorities from Pakistan would be welcomed. In Pakistan Hindu population reduced from 23 percent to 2 percent. In Bangladesh, the number of Hindus decreased from 22 percent to 10 percent. In Afghanistan, the number of Sikhs and Hindus reduced from 2 lakhs to 378. They have equal rights to us. We fulfilled the promise made by the Congress leaders,” Shah said.
When asked if it was not discriminatory towards Muslims against the spirit of the Constitution. He said, “All three nations are declared Islamic states. Muslims cannot face persecution there.”
He also clarified, “CAA has no provision for NRC. No one will lose citizenship because of CAA. I would ask Muslim brothers and sisters not to listen to the opposition. They are merely doing politics with you again.”
He said that he would talk about the NRC after the election.
What about the Muslims of PoK, faced with this query, Shah’s response was, “PoK is Bharat’s part and the people belonging to all religions are Indians. Both Hindus and Muslims belong to us.”
BJP TO WIN OVER 370 SEATS
Shah defended the BJP’s rhetoric of winning over 370 seats in ensuing Lok Sabha polls, saying that the party always registered win on the basis of its performance. “Merely speaking leads to nothing otherwise Congress would have won. We have a track record of 10 years and a vision for 25 years which is why we have said that we will win more than 370 seats,” he said.
“In the previous election too, we said that we were going to win 300 seats and I asked you to wait for the result date. Even this time I would say the same and you will see NDA crossing the 400 mark,” he exuded confidence.
ON POLITICAL TIE-UPS
With regard to queries about BJP’s political alliances in different states, he said that the decisions were made in consonance with complexities of politics.
“We never chucked out Chandrababu Naidu rather he left himself. I do not know if he dubbed Modiji a Hardcore terrorist but even if he has said, he has learnt the lesson as the people rejected him for this statement. In any case, the support for a bill by a political party does not mean a tie-up,” he said.
Shah said that BJP would improve significantly in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha in Odisha.
“I am not a professional political manager. I was born politically in the BJP and I will die in the BJP. Nothing can change that,” he said, while responding to a question about his political management skills.
“Modi Ji has said that Khattar Sahab is a very good and veteran Karyakarta; hence, he has utility both at the centre and the state. We have not separated from the JJP because of any bitterness. Rather they had some demands about seats that we could not fulfil,” was his take about Haryana developments.
Shah said that the differences among the NDA allies in Bihar were only on the surface.
“Wait for a week and you will see that all the differences will be resolved. In Bihar all the seats will come to the NDA under the leadership of the BJP. We have not broken any party in Maharashtra. Many parties like Shiv Sena and the NCP have broken up because of fascination for the sons and daughters of the leaders. Uddhav Ji wanted his son Aditya to become the chief minister which led to internal differences within the party. They were not ready to accept Aditya. Pawar also wanted to make his daughter Chief Minister. There is no dispute in the Maharashtra NDA on seat distribution,” he responded about Bihar and Maharashtra politics and tie-ups.
BJP’S SITUATION IN DELHI, UP
Regarding BJP’s situation in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, the Union Home Minister said, “In Delhi we have more than 50 percent vote share. What is the point of the INDI Alliance garnering the rest of the 49%? We are going to increase our vote share in Delhi. In Uttar Pradesh, the last time the SP, BSP, and Chaudhary Charan Singh Party were together. But this time around they have lost strength and hence we are stronger in the UP.”
POLITICS IS CHEMISTRY; NOT PHYSICS
Asserting that “Politics is not physics; it is Chemistry”, he said, “Sometimes one plus one makes two, sometimes 11 and sometimes 0. We have not taken Jayant Choudhury for any arithmetic. But for the expansion of our party, we have reduced friction in some areas.”
He said, “The reason behind proposing the ‘One Nation, One Election’ is that repeated elections stall the development process. One nation one election will reduce government expenses.”
Regarding Delhi Chief Minister’s statement about CAA, Shah said, “Arvind Kejriwal speaks without knowing anything. As per CAA, the people who have settled here till December 31, of 2014 are only being given citizenship. Kejriwal Ji never speaks about Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators.”
BJP, PM MODI ENSHRINED POLITICS OF PERFORMANCE
Union Home Minister said that BJP had always promised to end Article 370, build Ram Temple, end Triple Talaq.
“We promised to bring UCC, we promised to bring CAA and we met all of the promises. In the last 10 years Modiji uplifted 60 Cr people from poverty through welfare policies and made India the fifth largest economy from 11th and Modi guarantees that we will make it the third largest economy after we are elected for the third time,” he said.
“Mod Ji ended casteism, corruption, appeasement and dynastic politics and enshrined the politics of performance,” Shah said.
ON WEST BENGAL
With regard to West Bengal, he said, “We will win more than 25 seats in West Bengal. The Sandeshkhali incident is only the manifestation of the inner rot in the Mamta administration. West Bengal is going through state sponsored infiltration. Mamta Didi is questioning the ED but not her minister from whom Rs 51 Cr were recovered. The same attitude was shown by the Congress when Rs 350 Cr were recovered from one of their MPs.”
ON CONGRESS’ CRITICISM
He said that the Congress party did not alienate itself when one of its leaders said that India should be broken into two. “But we alienated ourselves when someone said that the constitution will be changed,” he said.
With regard to Congress’s allegation about less participation to OBCs and others in the government, he said, “Rahul Gandhi does not see that the Prime Minister is an OBC and there are 27 OBC ministers in the cabinet. But he is counting the joint secretaries. The joint secretaries, he is pointing out, were appointed during their tenure. His grand-father and great grandfather did it.” “I want to ask the Congress whether they ever had 27 OBCs in the cabinet. Had they ever made an OBC Prime Minister?” he asked.
ON MANIPUR
On unrest in Manipur, Shah said, “The Government of India is ready to mediate to end ethnic rifts in Manipur. But both the communities have to come together.”
