Guj polls a fight between caste politics and PM's development agenda: Shah

BJP president Amit Shah today said the upcoming Gujarat Assembly poll was a fight between Congress' caste and dynastic politics, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda even as he took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi.

Shah said Gandhi's visits to Gujarat have increased as the Congress vice president thinks the state is a "tourist spot".

Addressing a rally here, Shah also raked up Congress leaders' statements on autonomy for Kashmir and on the Rohingya refugee issue, daring the opposition party and Gandhi to make clear their stand.

"The Gujarat election 2017 is not just a fight between two parties or a fight for who will become the chief minister, but it is to decide if 'jaativad' (casteism) and 'vanshvad' (dynastic rule) will win or Narendra Modi's 'vikasvad' (development politics) will triumph," Shah said.

Shah was speaking shortly before the state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani filed his nomination papers from Bhavnagar (west).

"The people of Gujarat have to decide...will they choose Congress which had tried to create a caste divide between 1985 and 1995 by putting KHAM theory into practice, or choose the development and stability provided by the BJP government from 1995 to 2017," Shah said.

KHAM denoted a vote bank of four communities, namely, Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims.

"This time the Congress has tried to outsource its campaign and is just indulging in casteist politics to win the Gujarat polls," Shah alleged, in an apparent reference to the party's attempts to win over Patidars and other communities.

The people will have to decide if they want "casteism, dynastic rule, minority appeasement (of Congress), or the developmental politics and stability offered by BJP", he said.

Modi has "started the process of ridding India of the politics of casteism, dynasty and minority appeasement, he said.

"Rahul Gandhi thinks this is a tourist spot. He is coming here quite often....he should come here and give an account of what the Sonia-Manmohan government, which ruled in Delhi for 10 years, did for Gujarat," Shah said.

Modi, after becoming prime minister, gave Gujarat the bullet train, 'Ro-Ro' ferry service, international airport (in Saurashtra) and "resolved all the pending problems that Gujarat had with the Centre", Shah said.

Claiming that terrorists in Kashmir were killing soldiers and people with impunity during the UPA rule, Shah reminded the gathering of Army's surgical strikes conducted during the Modi regime.

"On one hand, the Narendra Modi government is trying to normalise the situation, while Chidambaram (Congress leader and former home minister) comes to Gujarat and demands autonomy for Kashmir," the BJP chief said.

"Rahul Gandhi should make his stand clear as to whether he supports Chidambaram's demand of autonomy for Kashmir," said Shah.

P Chidambaram, during his visit to Rajkot in Gujarat last month, said in reply to a question that he was for greater autonomy for the restive border state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah also targeted Congress leaders on the issue of Rohingya Muslims, saying that Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor wrote to the prime minister saying they should be allowed to enter India.

"Can India play with its internal security? Can India compromise its security? The people of Gujarat should ask Congress to make its stand clear on Rohingya Muslims," he said.