BJP National Council: Narendra Modi And His Team

In what could be called a political show of strength, the Bhartiya Janata Party National Council meet saw all the big wigs talking at the same line and length.

The main attraction of the whole show was the felicitation provided to newly appointed BJP president Amit Shah whose hard work steered the party towards Lok Sabha election victory, especially in the Uttar Pradesh.

The second lead of the show, Amit Shah, made a quite impressive speech at the meet.

It was his first official address to the BJP cadre after being ratified as party president.

“None of our former leaders have come from political homes and have instead worked their way up. I believe that I couldn’t have achieved what I have in any other party but the BJP,” Shah said referring to the internal democracy of the party.

Praising his mentor Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah said, “It was when we declared Narendra Modi our PM candidate that poor of nation backed us. The party is moving ahead as a party that will represent the interests of the poor. 

Thanks to this a man who was a common karyakarta will hoist the national flag on Independence day”.

“I believe in the history of independent India that this was the biggest campaign to reach out to the people. We used many ways to reach out to the people that helped us. Lakhs of activists have worked to ensure our success on various mediums including Facebook and Twitter. In this election we got a 31% vote share which no non-Congress party has ever received. I want to thank every organisation that helped us achieve this success,” Shah finally said.

He turned the attention of party cadre towards upcoming assembly elections in various states and told them that the war was not over yet. Making a special mention to the Uttar Pradesh, he said that the situation in the state was not quite well.

The stage was then taken by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley whose targeted the Gandhi family which ruined the country. “We have to understand why the Congress lost so badly. It was their dependence on one family. Such family dynasties have received a shock with this electoral verdict,” he said.

He enlisted the points which culminated into the defeat of the Congress party.

Party veteran LK Advani took the stage after Jaitley and shared his experiences with his party colleagues.

“I have never seen such an organised BJP National Council since 1951,” Advani said. “I had requested party chief Amit Shah to let only Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak in the post-lunch session. But Shah told me that I must speak even if for a short time and I cannot but obey the first order of my new party head,” he said. 

The star of the show, PM Modi, spoke at the national council meet for the first time too. He did not take much time before praising his team.

“Rajnath Singh was the captain of the team that led us to victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Amit Shah was the man of the match. Had Shah not been given the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh, the country would not have known about his immense skills,” he said.

During his speech Modi not only gave an idea about his experience as the prime minister but also mocked Congress for demanding results in such a short notice.

“Most of my time in the last two months went in cleaning and changing the work culture. Those who could not do anything in the last 60 years have already started making a noise asking for results in 60 days. I can assure you that the experience that I have gathered in the last 60 days have given me enough confidence that we can fulfill what we had promised. Isn’t it great that most of the things promised in our manifesto have found place in the first budget itself and we already have a road map for them?” the prime minister asked.

In course of his nearly 40-minute speech, Modi admitted that the sweeping mandate has made his job comparatively easier than a coalition government would have.

“It is always comfortable to work in a government that has got absolute majority. I have realised that our absolute majority has also forced other countries to change the way they look upon us. They do not see us in the manner anymore that they had seen us when there was an alliance government. The world recognises that this government has come with a sweeping mandate,” he said.

The prime minister also strongly defended India’s stand at the WTO and said that he cannot seek positive media reports in the Western media at the expense of his poor countrymen.

“For us the country is more important than the party. On the WTO issue, we have chosen a path where there will be food on the plate for the poor and allow our farmers to survive. We have chosen a path where the foreign media won’t write accolades about us but instead took the right decision for our country. I am horrified that a party which had asked for votes on the basis of food security bill had signed an agreement in the WTO that was completely anti-poor,” Modi said.

“The BJP cannot accept any incident that disturbs peace. Unity and peace are the pre-condition for development. The parties which had lost so badly in the recent polls are still clinging on to their vote bank and divisive politics. BJP will not allow that and will go forward taking every one along,” Modi said referring to SP and communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh.

Giving his observations how the nature of democracy in the country should be, he said, “There is need to take representative democracy forward as a participatory democracy. Each and every worker of the party is worthy of praise for the brilliant results in the recent Lok Sabha polls. All must realise that we are not saplings but a banyan tree that can offer shadow to many. Our mantra is move forward constantly without rest serving the nation.”

The beginning of the Modi government is good.

Now it is to be seen how he fares in his promise.