Speaking at Republic Summit 2018, BJP national president Amit Shah on Wednesday expressed his confidence that NDA alliance will be back in power by securing a comfortable majority in the 2019 general elections. Dismissing the impact of the recent assembly election losses on the Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah said that recent elections were not favourable for the party but they do not set a precedent for the 2019 general elections.
In his first interaction with the media since the results of elections were announced on December 11, Shah said that the BJP will introspect the reverses it faced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and it is necessary not only for him but for the people that BJP wins the 2019 polls in the Hindi heartland and rest of the country.
Amit Shah said the Lok Sabha elections are different from state elections and in 2019 elections will be fought on the basis of leadership capabilities. Responding to issue of ‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’, Amit Shah said that the fight of the BJP is against the Congress party and will ensure that the party defeats the Congress in the general elections as it did in 2014.
He further added that BJP has not lost its vote base in the Hindi heartland despite the reverses it faced and expressed confidence in securing more seats in the next elections. “It is our duty to work for the people and convince them, but if the mandate is against us we accept that too,” said Shah while reacting regarding the issue of failure to win despite huge rallies and campaign in the recent elections.
Referring to the idea of Mahagathbandhan and the idea of opposition parties to unite against the BJP as an ‘illusion’, Amit Shah said the impact of regional leaders on the national politics is ineffective, as the grand alliance offer neither leadership nor stable government unlike BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The reality of opposition mahagathbandhan or grand alliance is different. It doesn’t exist and is a bhram (illusion),” Shah said. He added “Mahagathbandhan does not exist anywhere. We have fought against all of them in 2014 and defeated them to form a govt. They are all regional leaders, they can’t help each other.”
Amit Shah further said that his party will never indulge in vote bank politics, appeasement or casteism to secure victory in electoral politics. He said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be fought on the issues of leadership and strength of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We fight our elections on the strength of PM Narendra Modi, not on the weakness of other,” expressed BJP President.
Shah expressed his hope of winning more seats from West Bengal, North-East and Odisha in 2019. He said BJP will win in more than half of total seats from the West Bengal and said will increase its tally in southern states, where the party does not have a strong presence.
Assuring that the Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhya, he said they will wait for the Supreme Court to hear the issue in January and decide on the further course of action after the Supreme Court takes a decision on the issue. Rejecting any dispute with Shiv Sena on the issue of Ram Mandir, he said both Shiv Sena and BJP are on the same page regarding the issue of Ram Mandir, as both parties want a temple to built at the historic site.
“We are ready to wait till January for the Supreme Court hearings on Ayodhya. If day-to-day hearings happen, the matter can be resolved in 10 days,” said the BJP supremo.
Speaking on the issue of Sabarimala, Amit Shah said, “Sabarimala is not about gender indiscrimination, it’s about a belief. There are many such issues where judicial reviews are not possible, it should be left to the people.”
He also said that Triple Talaq is a social issue and not a religious issue. He said it is time that India’s Muslim women get justice, hence the party decided to bring in an ordinance on Triple Talaq. Now it’s on the Opposition to decided whether to support it or not in the Parliament, said Amit Shah.
He slammed the Congress for misleading the nation on the issue of Rafale deal. “They have tried to mislead the nation on Rafale, they should apologise to the forces and people. After the Supreme Court’s verdict, it’s our right to say the truth,”, said Shah.
