In Indore, Amit Shah Reaches Out To Party Workers, Congress To Tribals

Bhopal:

The BJP organised a mega gathering of its booth-level workers in Indore today, which was addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. This was his third visit in less than 20 days. A few kilometers away, senior Congress leaders, including two former Chief Ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, as well as ex-JNUSU president-turned-NSUI’s national in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar, addressed an Adivasi Yuva Mahapanchayat.

Addressing the BJP workers, Mr Shah urged them to aim for victory in 2023, which breaks all previous records of assembly poll victories. He also urged the BJP’s booth-level workers to fight hard in the next general elections to ensure Narendra Modi’s third term as Prime Minister.

“It is not the leaders sitting on this stage, who win the elections for the BJP. It is our booth-level workers who win us the polls,” he said.

Terming PM Modi as the “Messiah of Poor” for starting a large number of pro-poor schemes, Mr Shah said Congress, while being in power for 70 years in the state, didn’t do anything for the poor.

He also took a dig at the previous Congress governments headed by Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, comparing their works with the achievements of the BJP governments over 18 years in the state — particularly during the double engine BJP governments at the Centre and in the state.

“No new industry was started in the 15-month regime of Corruption Nath, as only the Transfer Industry (18,000 Class I officers were transferred in Mr Nath’s 15-month regime) flourished. Whatever new industry has been established is the result of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state,” Mr Shah said.

He also raised the issues of surgical strikes on Pakistan soil, Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370.  

Meanwhile, addressing an Adivasi Yuva Mahapanchayat, former Chief Ministers Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath assured that all demands raised by the tribal youths through a “Maang-Patra” at the Mahapanchayat on Sunday will be included in the party’s poll manifesto.

Lashing out at the BJP and its leaders, Kanhaiya Kumar accused the party of pitting tribals against non-tribals in Manipur, which has been witnessing ethnic violence since May. He also questioned the country’s first tribal President Droupadi Murmu’s silence over tribal women being paraded naked in Manipur.

He also targeted state home minister Narottam Mishra, saying “instead of zeroing on what Deepika Padukone is wearing in a movie, you (Mishra) should be concerned about what is happening to women, tribals and Dalits in Madhya Pradesh”.

Indore serves as the hub for the 66 seats in the state’s western and south-western regions, known as the Malwa-Nimar area.

Over the years, the party that won the 66-seat Malwa-Nimar (MP region with the most seats) has gone on to form the state government.

The BJP swept the region in 2013, capturing 57 of the 66 seats, while the Congress trailed far behind with only nine. The Congress, however, turned the tables on the BJP five years later, gaining 36 seats.

The BJP could only win 27 seats, with three seats going to Congress rebels running as Independents.