Modi praises Shah as the ‘architect’ of party’s poll wins

TAKING A DIG AT RAHUL GANDHI, RECENTLY ELEVATED AS CONG CHIEF, PM SAID THERE WERE PARTIES IN WHICH PEOPLE WON PROMOTIONS, BUT THEIR STATURE ONLY SHRANK

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah as the architect of the BJP’s run of electoral triumphs, and launched a blistering attack on the Congress.

In an over 30-minute speech to BJP workers at the newly built party headquarters, Modi also accused communist parties of unleashing violence on BJP activists. Modi paused briefly during azan, or Islamic call for prayer, from a neighbouring mosque. He also observed brief silence to pay respect to BJP workers killed by political rivals.

Modi showered praise on Shah, calling him the “architect of BJP’s victory march,” following its latest electoral triumphs in the north-east. In an implicit reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, recently elevated to the party’s top post, he said there were some parties where people won promotions, but their stature only shrank.

“Congress party ka kad itna chhota pahle kabhi nahi hua hoga jitna aaj hua hai (the Congress’ stature has never been so diminished as it has been today),” Modi said, cautioning his and other parties against following the “Congress culture.”

The Prime Minister said communist parties, instead of accepting electoral defeat, were looking for excuses. The CPI(M)lost power in Tripura, which it has ruled for 25 years, in the just concluded assembly elections.

Modi thanked the voters of Tripura for not getting carried away by “fear and confusion”, which he said was being spread against the BJP by its opponents.

Modi said the sky turns red when the sun sets and it turns saffron when the sun rises,referring to the colours of the Communists and the BJP.

“Yesterday, on Holi, the country was painted in several colours and today it has turned saffron,” Modi said.

He spoke about vastu shastra, the ancient Indian system of architecture, followers of which pay the most attention to the north-eastern part when they construct a new house. Today, the north-east of India has joined the country’s vikas yatra (journey of development), he said.

Modi said the people of the north-east harboured a sense of alienation that his government had worked over time to remove. In the last four years, central ministers have spent more time in the states of the region to deal with their problems than they ever did in the past, he said.

At a press conference, Shah said the party’s “golden period” will come only after it wins power in Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala. The BJP president said the party’s golden days were thought to have arrived when it won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with a majority on its own or captured power in Uttar Pradesh last year.

“But BJP’s golden period is yet to arrive…it will come when we win Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala…we are winning Karnataka,” Shah said.