Shah says BJP working for 'making India', Cong for 'breaking India'; will win 2019 with bigger majority

BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday dubbed the proposed grand alliance of the Opposition as an "illusion, eyewash and sham for fulfilling self-interest" and accused the Congress of "Breaking India", while the Narendra Modi government worked for "making India".

He asserted that the saffron party would return to power in 2019 with a bigger majority than what it got in 2014.

Launching a blistering attack on the Opposition in his inaugural address at the party's two-day national executive meet here, the BJP chief said the "mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) of his party's rivals was for the sole purpose of "fulfilling self-interest", adding that it had defeated each one of them in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Such an alliance would make no difference to the BJP's fortunes and the party's win in 2019 was certain, he said, adding that it would return to power in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan and emerge victorious in Mizoram and Telangana.

The five states are scheduled to go to the polls later this year.

Attacking the Congress for its alleged support to Naxals, Shah said the Modi government was working for "making India", whereas the opposition party was working for "Breaking India".

Shah sought to build a narrative about his party around the theme of development, especially targeting the poor, and nationalism while painting the Opposition as those sympathizing with "urban Naxals".

The Opposition was standing "shamelessly" with those accused of conspiring to kill Prime Minister Modi, giving financial assistance to Naxals and buying weapons, he said, in his first comments on the recent arrest of certain activists for allegedly hobnobbing with Maoists.

Shah praised Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was present at the meeting, for the police action against the activists.

"People will never forgive it (Opposition) for this crime," he said, according to an official statement.

The BJP chief accused the Congress-led Opposition of practicing the "poisonous" politics of caste, appeasement, and malice against the Modi government, even though they had been facing defeats in elections.

Briefing reporters on Shah's speech at the closed-door meeting, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the former termed the Opposition as "disruptions" and added that it no longer seemed to be representing the voice of the people in Parliament.

The BJP will win in all the 19 states where it is in power and will also do well in the Opposition-ruled states due to anti-incumbency, Shah claimed.

The BJP had won 282 of the 543 seats in the 2014 parliamentary election.

Top party leaders, including Modi and the chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states, were in attendance as Shah asserted that the party will return to power on the basis of the central government's performance, Modi's charismatic leadership and its organizational strength.

He also took a dig at Congress leader and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who had recently said the Modi government had failed on all fronts, saying that while Singh followed his party, Modi led his.

Hitting back at former finance minister P Chidambaram over his criticism of the government's economic policies, Shah said over three lakh shell companies were shut down, hampering black money operations, and the number of income tax assessees had doubled.

"Our workers should take on P Chidambaram and company and challenge them to debates on facts," he said.

Shah also touched on the issues of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the "triple talaq" bill, while making a passing reference to the rivals' attack on his party over Dalit issues, but avoided the topic of fuel price rise and the reported anger of the upper castes over the BJP's support to pro-Dalit laws.

Not a single infiltrator will be allowed into India, he said, noting that the party had been consistent in its support to the NRC, with its national executive making a mention of it as many as nine times in the past.

The Congress was exposed for preferring its vote-bank politics over national interest, he said.

Shah also made a strong pitch for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that sought to grant Indian citizenship to the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Christians being persecuted in the neighboring countries, saying it must be done without any hesitation.

The BJP chief also made a reference to instant triple talaq being banned in several Islamic countries and said the bill, which envisaged criminal action against the Muslim men accused of practicing it, was stuck in Parliament due to the Congress's "hypocritical" stand.

The rivals of the BJP were leveling "baseless" allegations against the party over Dalit issues, he said.

Referring to the pro-poor programmes of the government, Shah said it had lived party ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya's principle of "antyodaya" (uplift of the last man in the queue) by benefitting over 50 crore people with its 126 schemes.

The party had also decided to organise various events on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on October 2, observe September 28 -- the day the Army carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control in 2016 -- as the "Shaurya Diwas" and observe "sewa saptah" (service week) between September 17 and 25, he said.

The BJP chief also hailed the passage of a bill granting constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes and claimed that the government's works had touched all segments of the society.