Making a case for a “double-engine” BJP government in Madhya Pradesh in the Assembly polls due later this year and a clean sweep in the State in the subsequent 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 30 said it was the workers and not leaders who won elections for the BJP.
“The BJP can never win because of the leaders occupying the stage, only a worker sitting at the booth level can deliver an electoral win for the BJP” was his concluding remark at the ‘Vijay Sankalp Sammelan’ of BJP workers in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore.
The appeal to deliver back-to-back poll victories comes at a time when the exit of leaders of various stature, office-bearers and last-mile workers over the past few months tested the top brass of the Madhya Pradesh BJP.
While Mr. Shah, in his address earlier, said the Madhya Pradesh BJP had the best organisation, the party’s central leadership has assumed more control over the Assembly poll campaign in recent times. A renewed outreach at wooing the workers is understood to counter the ground discontent and anti-incumbency that the BJP is facing after an uninterrupted rein in power for almost 18 years, punctuated by a brief Congress stint.
Slams Nath govt.
Kicking off the party’s campaign in Malwa, the Union Home Minister also accused the Congress government that ruled for one and a half year under the leadership of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath of massive corruption. He alleged that during this period, Mr. Nath’s government blocked the funds meant for welfare schemes and used that money to float tenders and take commissions. Addressing Mr. Nath as “corruption Nath” and another former Congress Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh as “Mr. Bantadhar” (spoiler), Mr. Shah further alleged that around 18,000 Class A officers were transferred during the Congress rule (between 2018 and 2020).
While lauding the subsequent BJP State governments for turning Madhya Pradesh into a developed State ridding it off its BIMARU tag “under the Congress”, the Home Minister also blamed the main Opposition party for not doing anything for the poor in the past 70 years. He listed the measures taken by the Centre and lauded the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government for their effective implementation.
“Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi is known as the messiah of the poor due to the welfare work done for them,” Mr. Shah said. He alleged that the Congress had nurtured Article 370 (in Jammu and Kashmir) “like its own child” for 70 years.
Dwelling further on the issue of internal security, the Home Minister said that during the UPA regime from 2004 to 2014, Pakistani terrorists used to carry out bomb blasts in India, but the BJP replied suitably with surgical strike under Mr. Modi’s leadership.
