Modi tells party to focus on 2019
NEW DELHI: An emotional Prime Minister Narendra Modi choked up at least three times during a meeting of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarians on Wednesday as he rallied party leaders for the next general elections, barely two days after the twin victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Though the media was not allowed in the meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, leaders said Modi turned emotional as he recalled how the party organisation was built in Gujarat and how former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had congratulated and hugged him after the party won 20 of 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 1999.
Modi choked up again twice while recalling the contribution of RSS and BJP leaders to the party’s rise in Gujarat, party leaders said.
Modi had broken down after being elected leader of the parliamentary party following the BJP’s history victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. That event had been telecast live.
“He (Modi) called for strengthening the party at its roots across the country,” said parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar.
On Monday, the BJP retained Gujarat despite a spirited challenge by the Congress and wrested back Himachal Pradesh. Both victories were attributed to Modi’s connect with the voters.
Modi also asked party leaders not to be disheartened by a decrease in the number of seats in Gujarat — from 115 in 2012 to 99 in 2017 — as a 1.2% rise in the BJP’s vote share in the state reflected the party’s popularity.
The Prime Minister said political pundits should conduct a study to see if any other party had won as many elections as the BJP had within three-and-a-half years of coming to power at the Centre.
Such a study would show that the BJP has broken all records by forming governments in 19 states, something even former prime minister Indira Gandhi could not achieve for the Congress, Modi said.
The prime minister asked party leaders and workers not to be misled by the opposition’s “disinformation campaign” on Gujarat and exhorted them to promote young leaders to strengthen the roots of the party.
There were many unsung heroes who contributed to the rise of the BJP in Gujarat, Modi said, asking party leaders to take pride in the fact that the BJP had won the sixth election in a row in the state.
Seeking to promote young leaders, Modi referred to his association with party president Amit Shah, who was present in the meeting, and spoke of how he had groomed the leader who is 14 years younger than him.
Modi said he wants younger generations to be connected with party work, social work and to build the nation. He noted that the “millennial generation” will be eligible to vote from 2018.
In his address, Shah attacked the Congress over its claim of a moral victory in the Gujarat polls, saying it was a “laughable” to see victory in defeat.