BJP gets new HQ, Modi says party led stirs for the nation
NEW DELHI : Democracy is the BJP’S core value, which enables it to take along allies successfully, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he inaugurated the party’s new central office in the national capital on Sunday. The Prime Minister said the BJP and its forerunner the Jana Sangh had since Independence led all agitations held in national interest and added that the party had never wavered from its founding ideals.
“After Independence, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and then BJP led all agitations held in national interest in the country. And we are proud of it,” he said at the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by party chief Amit Shah, party patriarch LK Advani, Union ministers and party functionaries. Stating that the BJP was “dyed in the colour of patriotism”, the Prime Minister also targeted the Opposition for questioning the role played by the Jana Sangh and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during the country’s freedom struggle. BJP’S core values are steeped in democracy, the Prime Minister said, adding that the party is guided by a democratic spirit in thinking, working and execution of its agenda.
At a time when the saffron party is facing heat from a few of its allies, including the Shiv Sena and the TDP, Modi alluded to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, which he said was an example of taking allies along while navigating regional aspirations and sparking a new hope in the country. “The root cause for this is that democracy is in our blood. That is why we are moving forward while taking everyone along to the best extent possible,” the Prime Minister said.
The Jana Sangh, he said, was founded because after Independence a need was felt to have more national parties.
With the inauguration of the new office, the BJP became the first major national party to shift its office outside the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone, following a Supreme Court directive that party offices should be relocated from there. Speaking on the occasion, party chief Amit Shah credited Modi’s leadership with strengthening the party.
“In 2014, people expressed their confidence in Modiji by electing a government with full majority. After that, the way Modiji ran the country and the way it’s (government’s) fragrance reached to the people, the party became much stronger,” Shah said.