Business Standard

Modi as PM will remove Muslims' fears: Shah

Shah rejected criticism that the Gujarat chief minister had overshadowed the party and said Modi and the BJP were "inseparable"

Amit Shah

Press Trust of India Varanasi
The apprehensions about Narendra Modi among Muslims will "go away" once he becomes the prime minister, as there will be policy initiatives to remove such perception, his aide Amit Shah said on Sunday.

Shah rejected criticism that the Gujarat chief minister had overshadowed the party and said Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party were "inseparable".

Asserting nobody should "feel scared" as projected by the Congress and other parties if Modi becomes prime minister, the BJP's in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, said, “If Modiji becomes Prime Minister, there will be solutions to these apprehensions based on his governance. It will not go away before that. These apprehensions have taken root following a long -term perception created by the media. When Modiji becomes prime minister, the solution to such fears will come through him and his government’s behaviour. I am pretty clear nobody should feel scared. The fear will go away as time goes by,” he told PTI in an interview.
 
Shah said a significant number of Muslims had welcomed Modi "whole-heartedly" in his rally in Varanasi besides others for which the party was indebted to people of the holy city.

Responding to a question on ‘Modi wave’, he said, "The wave is for both the BJP and Modi. Modi wave and BJP wave are media's creation. You cannot separate Modi and the BJP. He is BJP's nominee for PM's post. The BJP has nominated him to lead the election."

Asked if the BJP will look for new allies if required to form government, Shah said the party was confident of getting more than 272 seats as there has been huge surge in support for the party across the country.

On BJP's expectation from politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, Shah said it will emerge as the "biggest" party in the state where it managed to wrest only 10 seats in 2009 elections.

"I do not want to specifically talk about the numbers. In the last election we had got 10 seats. This time we will emerge as the biggest party and there will be huge difference of seats between the party in the first position and second position," he said.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Apr 28 2014 | 12:11 AM IST

Explore News