Addressing a gathering after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 620 crore for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, he said the Congress was “wiped out” in Gujarat’s local body elections. The AAP “could not even open an account”, he said.
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Shah said the BJP’s “unstoppable journey of development” in Gujarat began under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was later carried forward by former chief ministers Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani and current CM Bhupendra Patel.
“As a result of this pro-development approach of the BJP, Congress was completely wiped out in the recent local body elections. Even if we search far and wide with binoculars, Congress is nowhere to be seen,” Shah said.
“And people from AAP, claiming ‘we will win this, we will win that’, got wiped out in Delhi, and here they couldn’t even open an account here,” he added.
Shah praised BJP workers for maintaining close contact with people and resolving their issues, saying this had strengthened public trust in the party.Recalling the COVID-19 pandemic period, Shah said BJP workers across Gujarat served people selflessly.
“Somewhere they delivered food kits to the poor, somewhere they took those who had no one to hospitals, somewhere they arranged testing, and somewhere BJP workers managed vaccination lines without taking their own vaccine,” he said.
He attributed the BJP’s success in the recently held local body polls to such a service-oriented approach of the party workers.
“We won all the municipal corporations where elections were held. Out of 84 municipalities, the BJP won 77. Elections were held in 34 districts, out of which the BJP won 33 districts. And, out of 260 taluka panchayats, the BJP won 253,” he said.
Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah mocked the party’s prospects in Gujarat.
“Rahul Gandhi was holding a workers’ convention here, saying ‘agli baari Congress ki’ (Congress’ turn next). He should understand that there’s no chance for the next seven lifetimes,” he said.
Speaking about the recent assembly elections in West Bengal, Shah said the BJP received an overwhelming mandate.
“Before voting, people asked what the final result would be, and I was confident that we would win. But the public gave us even more than we expected, giving us 207 seats and placing a very big responsibility on the BJP,” he said.
Drawing a comparison between Gujarat and Bengal, Shah claimed the eastern state had suffered due to decades of misrule.
“Perhaps if someone had filmed Gujarat in 1964 and compared it with today’s Bengal… the Gujarat of 1964 would score two marks higher,” he said.
“No development activities for 50 years. Whether you wanted to buy a tubelight, a fan, bricks or cement, there was a commission for the ruling party in everything. If a poor person brought a fan on a train from a neighbouring state, they were standing at the railway station to collect tax on that too,” Shah alleged.
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The Union minister said those who call themselves the guardians of democracy have reduced such a large and once prosperous state to “this condition”.
“People of West Bengal, tired of 50 years of misrule, wholeheartedly blessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and helped us in forming the government,” he said.
Shah said the BJP’s political expansion across the country reflected growing public support.
“If we sit with the map of India today, Mother Ganga originates from Uttarakhand and merges into the sea at Gangasagar in Bengal. Starting from Uttarakhand, via UP and Bihar to Bengal, the BJP is in power everywhere,” he said.
Shah said just like Congress came to power across the nation under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi after Independence, the BJP is moving forward in that same direction today.
“Today, the BJP and NDA (National Democratic Alliance) govern 80 per cent of the country’s territory. At the Centre too, Narendrabhai Modi has become the prime minister for the third consecutive time, and the NDA government has been formed,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Shah attended multiple events.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating Ganesh Housing‘s “Million Minds Tech Park” in Ahmedabad, he said Gujarat must now elevate itself to the top position in the service sector after performing exceptionally well across key segments like manufacturing, engineering, and green energy.
At the National Institute of Design in Gandhinagar, he pitched for the creation of a separate vertical to connect designers with commercial opportunities, drawing a parallel with the transformation brought about in cricket by the IPL.
He also inaugurated a milk processing and packaging plant of Madhur Dairy in Gandhinagar district and said that the massive growth of the sector has brought about a profound transformation in the lives of women.
