More articles by

Nandini Oza
Nandini Oza

GUJARAT

Patidar stir is politically motivated, says Amit Shah

amit-shah-gujarat10917 BJP chief Amit Shah at a public meeting at Pandit Dindayal Hall in Ahmedabad | Janak Patel

BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday urged the youth in Gujarat not to get carried away by the “false propaganda” on the social media and play a decisive role in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Shah was addressing a Youth Town Hall in Ahmedabad. Over 1.5 lakh youth from more than 300 places in Gujarat participated in the interaction. He took about 15 live questions and promised to answer the rest in the days to come. The Youth Town Hall was organised as part of the BJP's campaign of “Adikham Gujarat” (Strong Gujarat).

In response to a question on the Patidar stir, Shah said that there was a limit to which reservation can be given and that the Supreme Court has laid a guideline. “In the days to come, you will realize that the Patidar stir is politically motivated,” the BJP chief said. For the last two years, Patidars have been demanding reservation under the OBC category.

Replying to another question, Shah said that the people in Gujarat should not feel the absence of Narendra Modi as he is now the prime minister. "There is no need to miss Narendra Modi in Gujarat. He placed Gujarat on the growth map as the chief minister; as the prime minister he is doing much for the development of the state. Who is more powerful, the chief minister or the prime minister?," he asked, even as the audience said the prime minister. Within no time of becoming the prime minister, Modi has taken quick decisions, including that of increasing the height of Narmada dam.

The assembly elections, he said, would be by the end of November or beginning of December and it was necessary for the youth to know their role. “You have to assert and play a decisive role,” he said.

Shah went on to urge the youth not to hurry, instead, do in-depth study and weigh what development is before taking a call. “After all, it is a question of giving the authority to handle a budget of Rs 1,71,000 crore,” he remarked.

BJP's clarion call to the youth is apparently aimed at countering a campaign called “Vikas gando thayo che” (development has gone crazy) that is doing rounds on the social media.

When a young girl asked from the audience, “Why should youth vote for the BJP?”, Shah smiled and replied that by posing the question, the girl had negated what all he had said in his opening remarks. “There are various schemes for the youth, it gives you an opportunity to progress. Vote for someone who gives you an opportunity to progress,” he added.

The security was tight at the venue and nobody was allowed to enter without an identity card. This, after the ruling BJP has had bitter experiences in the recent past where representatives of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), spearheading the Patidar stir, had created ruckus at party's functions. Police took away a youth who was protesting when Shah stepped out of the venue after the function.

Hitting back at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who had questioned the BJP over the development of Gujarat, Shah said in order to study the development of Gujarat, one should divide the time period as pre-1995 and post-1995. Pre-1995, mainly Congress was in power in Gujarat and post 1995, it has been the BJP, he said. 

Referring to Gandhi as Rahul baba and Shehzada on many occasions, Shah said the Congress leader had asked question about development. “Well, the place from where Gandhi addressed lay as a dirty pool earlier and now it boasts of a riverfront that people from the world over come to see,” he said.

The BJP national president, flanked by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and state BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani, gave out figures of universities, education, budget, agriculture production and so on pre-1995 and post-1995. “We have done nothing that we need to hide or your heads bow down in shame,” Shah said, adding that the details of the progress would be put up on the party's website.

At a time when the BJP ruling civic bodies are facing criticism for the bad roads, Amit Shah said the roads that have been damaged during monsoon will be repaired between September 15 and October 22.

Shah was asked questions on GST, tribal development and also about what the government was doing to win Gujarat a medal in next Olympics.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
Topics : #Amit Shah

Related Reading