To make India a global leader, the BJP needs to serve the nation for a longer time and party workers should work hard to win all elections from the panchayat level to the Lok Sabha for the next 50 years, its chief, Amit Shah, said on Sunday.
Shah urged the party cadre to not rest till it emerges victorious in states like Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
The BJP chief also elaborated on the measures taken by the government to empower women. In the Indian culture and society, women have a high stature equivalent to goddesses, he said.
His comments come at a time when there has been widespread outrage over the Kathua and Unnao rape cases, which have again brought the issue of safety of women to centre stage.
Addressing the concluding session of the party's 'Mahila Morcha' national executive meeting in Ghaziabad, Shah said the top priority of the BJP government was to ensure security on borders and handling terrorism strictly by adopting a zero tolerance policy.
"We have not entered politics for electoral success; we have joined it to make India great again and to ensure food, education and health facilities to the poor in the country," Shah said, according to a party statement.
He said the BJP wants to make India, developed, secure and a country that influences the world.
"And to make India a global leader, the party needs to serve the country for a longer time. Therefore, party workers should unitedly work hard to win all the elections from panchayat to Lok Sabha for next 50 years," he said.
He told party workers that they should not sit idle till the BJP wins in Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
Speaking on issues related to women, Shah cited various steps and measures taken by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to empower them.
"We hail from a culture where women have been given the place of a goddess. They were given priority and have very high stature," he said.
Without taking any names, he said when our "enemy" had forgotten the incident in which our soldiers were beheaded by its army, India launched surgical strikes to avenge the incident.
Attacking Rahul Gandhi, Shah said the Congress president keeps asking what has been done in the four years of the Modi government. The country wants to know what Congress had done in its regime of 50 years for the masses, Shah said.
“The BJP government is providing loans to unemployed youths to make them self-employed. The opposition parties took jibes on the issue by talking of pakodas,” he said. Any kind of job that involves hard work is considered dignified, he added.
The previous governments were indulging in corruption, he alleged as he lauded the Modi government.
India will lead the climate change conference in the coming years, Shah said. He also gave some important tips to women workers of BJP to ensure victory in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Shah exhorted party workers to work 24 x 7 to achieve the target.