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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s National Council ratified the anointment of Amit Shah as the party’s next president at its meeting on Saturday. The meeting also resolved to strengthen the party structure down to the booth level to achieve its target of a BJP or BJP-backed government in all states and Union territories of India in the coming years. Shah, as well as the political resolution the meeting adopted, called for creation of a post-Congress political culture.
In his speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the need for bolstering party’s presence down to the booth level. He said just one ‘PM’ wasn’t enough, the party required 100 to 200 ‘PMs’ or ‘primary members’ were needed at each booth across the country.
Modi also slammed Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s comments on communal violence in Uttar Pradesh being “artificially engineered”. Modi didn’t name Rahul but said “people who, despite suffering a massive defeat, are still not able to desist from engaging in old vote-bank politics; they are trying to destroy the social fabric.” The PM explained to the nearly 2,000 National Council members the government’s stand at the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. "There are attempts to spread doubts on WTO. Should we choose in favour of our farmers or for getting good international publicity in the media? We have chosen the former. We have chosen the interest of the poor people of the country," Modi said.
The PM criticised the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for having surrendered the interests of the poor at the Bali ministerial conference in end-December. He said: “Those who sought votes in the name of food security signed the agreement (sacrificing the interest of poor people).” He said the perception of the world had changed about India after his government came to power.
Mentioning his letter to the nation he had written at the completion of his 30-days in office, Modi on Saturday said his government has been subjected to “different and tough yardsticks”. “Those who have not done anything for 60 years are asking for our account of 60 days,” he said. He said only time would tell the agenda behind this, but the party should accept it as a challenge. “I have myself come out of 14 years of trial," he said, in an apparent reference to his criticism post-2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
The political resolution adopted at the meeting was expectedly laudatory about BJP’s election performance, terming the winning of a full majority as a “golden chapter” in party’s history. It counted as successes its overcoming caste as also Modi winning the confidence of the first-time voters in the 18-28 age groups. The resolution said the 2014 elections were fought on the question of leadership. The resolution dwelled at length on the sorry state of the Congress, which couldn’t win a single seat in 14 states and in six of the seven Union territories; lauded Shah for getting the party 71 of 80 seats in UP and noted the inroads among the SCs and STs.
“There is a lesson for the organisation in these elections. The wave of popular leader and sentiment gets converted into votes where the organisation is strong and the local leadership is established. That is why it is essential to strengthen the organisation in all the states of the country and that is our responsibility,” it stated.
The resolution said the fact that Congress hasn’t been able to digest its defeat was apparent in its scrambling to get the Leader of Opposition status in the Lok Sabha, their opposition to Bills like the insurance Bill that they had presented during their tenure and disruption of parliamentary proceedings. It also listed Modi government’s successes like instituting a committee on black money, finance and railway budgets, effective steps to check price rise, measures to clean the Ganga, its ‘neighbours’s first’ foreign policy, discipline in administration and better work culture, etc.
Shah talked about how BJP was a rare political party among the 1200 political parties of India, where a worker could be elevated to the highest position of party president. He lauded Modi’s hard work during the election campaign and said the election verdict was a rejection of the politics of dynasty, appeasement and vote bank.
Shah said the party cadres should recommit itself to its ideology and the tenets of Deendayal Upadhyaya. “Now that we are in power, we have to dexterously run the government and also conduct our party. Even the slightest failure of ours on either of these fronts will automatically impact the other. We must understand the importance of the mutuality of political power and organisational prowess. We have to strive to give the best performance on both the fronts,” Shah said. He said simply attaining power wasn’t the only objective but to wean the politics from the “Congress culture” and that it was party’s duty that it’s “ideology should positively influence the thinking and work culture of our society.”
