The golden period of the BJP will come when we are able to win Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, and Karnataka, which we are sure we would soon, declared BJP chief Amit Shah. Addressing a press conference here, he could not stop smiling as his party had broken the myth of being only a Hindi-belt party, and had expanded reach in the North East.
The BJP along with its allies will now have governments in 21 states across the country.
Shah had been working on the state since the 2014 elections. “It is the biggest achievement in the political history of the country as our vote share has risen from merely 1.3 per cent to over 43 per cent in only five years,” the BJP chief said as he credited Narendra Modi's leadership for the victory. “We had given the slogan of chalo paltai (lets flip), we have done it,” Shah, the chief strategist of the BJP said.
“If there is a thermometer of functioning of the Modi government, it is the mandate we have been achieving in state after state. We have governments in 21 states now,” he added.
After Shah addressed the media, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turn to address party cadre at the BJP's new headquarters.
“Election analysts in India will have to understand the journey from no one to won, shunya se shikhar tak. When the sun sets it is red in color and when it rises it is saffron,” Modi said referring to dramatic rise of his party.
For both Modi and Shah, the victory in Tripura was added significance as they said the number of BJP cadres killed by the CPI(M) cadre in Kerala and Bengal. Modi even stopped his speech in between to observe two minute silence for his party workers killed in Tripura. A few minutes earlier he had paused his speech midway for Azaan (call for prayer from Mosque), from a Mosque nearby through loudspeaker.
“The historic victory in Tripura is as much an ideological one. It is a win for democracy over brute force and intimidation. Today peace and non-violence has prevailed over fear. We will provide Tripura the good government that the state deserves,” Modi had said earlier during the day in a tweet.
Both Shah and Modi revealed how the victory had been achieved, how the population of the states which had only seen Left and the Congress trusted the new entrant.
“Northeast always felt that Delhi is far away from them, with the DoNER ministry we have brought Delhi to their doorsteps. The entire ministry once a month operated from one of the states there. It connected people with the government,” Modi said.
Shah also revealed how the NDA ministry used to spend time in the state winning people's trust.
The BJP has managed to win the imagination of the people of Tripura in particular with a promise of good governance. “The Left party is not right for this country,” Shah quipped.