Amit Shah claims will return in 2019 with larger majority

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is working for “making India” whereas the Congress is working for “breaking India”, BJP president Amit Shah said on Saturday, asserting that his party will return to power in 2019 with a majority bigger than what it got in 2014. A slogan of “Ajey BJP” (Invincible BJP) was adopted at the meeting of the party’s national office bearers and also presidents of its state units.

Launching a blistering attack on the Opposition in his inaugural address at the party’s two-day national executive meeting, he said the proposed mahagathbandhan  (grand alliance) of the BJP’s rivals is an illusion and myth, and will make no difference to its fortunes. Mr Shah sought to build a narrative about his party around the theme of development, especially targeting the poor, and nationalism, while painting the Opposition as those sympathising with “urban Naxals” and working for “breaking India” in its frustration over electoral losses.
Briefing reporters on Mr Shah’s speech in the closed-door meeting, Nirmala Sitharaman said he termed the Opposition as “disruptionists” and that it no longer seems to be representing the voice of the people.

He made these comments in the context of the no-confidence motion brought by opposition parties in Lok Sabha in the Monsoon Session, saying that there was no reason for it and accusing them of being in “denial mode” after it was defeated with a big margin.

With many political watchers suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may find it hard to repeat its 2014 feat, Mr Shah said it will handily win in 19 states where it is in power and also emerge victorious in states such as West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana due to “anti-incumbency” factor against regional parties in power there. Meanwhile, sources said Mr Shah, whose three-year term ends in January, will lead the party in the Lok Sabha election in 2019 and its organisational polls are likely to be suspended till then as it focuses on the electoral challenge ahead, party sources said.

A party leader said organisational polls in an election year have often been deferred in the past as well to allow the incumbent president, his team of office-bearers and workers to focus fully on polls. The party sources said on the sidelines of the two-day Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting that Shah will lead the organisation into the Lok Sabha polls, scheduled for April-May next year. The issue was discussed in the meeting of office-bearers, they said. Shah had replaced Rajnath Singh as the party president soon after it came to power in May 2014 as Singh quit his post following his inclusion in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. He was then elected as the president in January 2016.

The BJP’s constitution allows its president to serve two consecutive full terms of three years each. As such, Shah can be elected to the post for one more term. Meanwhile, Union minister Nirmala Sithar-aman said, “We will return to power strongly and with a good majority. We will win with a bigger majority than what we got in 2014.”  The BJP had won 282 seats out of 543 in the 2014 parliamentary election. Top party leaders, including Modi and chief ministers of party-ruled states, were in attendance as Shah asserted that it will return to power on the basis of the government’s performance, Modi’s charismatic leadership and its organisational strength. Shah said his party had defeated all of them in 2014 and their coming together will make no difference to it.