The Bharatiya Janata Party has set the ball rolling for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections at its National Convention today. The Convention which took place at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi was attended by thousands of party members from across the country including the top brass of the Party.
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The event kick-started with Shabana Rehman singing Vande Mataram. Thereafter Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari also hummed the lines “Ramlila maidan se ho rha muhurat hai, 5 saal k liye aur Modi ki jarurat hai”, as the crowd cheered in support.
Speaking at the event, BJP National President Amit Shah reminded the party members about the importance of the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Shah said that the election is decisive not only for the party but also for the country. He compared the 2019 general election with the third Battle of Panipat fought between Ahmed Shah Abdali and Sadashiv Bhau. One defeat of the Marathas, who had 131 victories to their credit, in the third Battle of Panipat had pushed the country into 200 years of slavery under the British, he said.
Remembering the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away last year, Shah said that he was the guiding star of the party since the time of Jansangh. Shah said that this is the first Party Convention without Vajpayee since the formation of the party and his demise has left a void.
Shah attacked the Mahagathbandhan calling it a “dhakochala” (sham) referring to the grand alliance Congress is trying to form with other opposition parties. He said that the country was in a really bad condition when the BJP government came to power in 2014 and that the Modi government tried to improve it through its various schemes. Shah lauded the Modi government for taking the brave step of conducting surgical strike across the border to take the revenge of the deaths of soldiers during the Uri attack and also for providing schemes like One Rank One Pension (OROP) for the benefit of the soldiers. He talked about how during the previous government’s rule our soldiers used to wait for the orders to take action in case of a ceasefire but under the Modi government, the armed forces have orders to respond to a bullet from across the border with a bomb.
Speaking on the Citizenship Amendment Bill which was recently introduced in the Parliament, Shah challenged the opposition parties to clear their stand on the issue of illegal immigrants. He claimed that the opposition parties do not care for the human rights of the people of this country and that they see the illegal immigrants as their vote bank.
Shah took a jibe at Congress President Rahul Gandhi by referring to the alleged AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel as “Michel Mama”. He said that economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Neerav Modi had to flee after the Modi government came to power as earlier they were enjoying the protection of the previous Congress government.
The crowd burst into cheers as towards the end of his address Shah said that the government will construct the Ram Temple at Ayodhya as was promised by the party in its manifesto in 2014. Shah ended his speech with loud slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram. The convention will continue until tomorrow as well when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the Convention.
