New headline: Shah questions effectiveness of family-oriented parties in addressing issues of poverty, caste discrimination, and marginalized communities

Family-oriented parties can never work for welfare of poor, Dalits, farmers, tribals: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday slammed the INDIA bloc for practising dynastic politics, and said in the upcoming elections, people have to choose between a leader who works for taking every section of society forward and those who promote their own family members.

Addressing back-to-back election rallies in Madhya Pradesh in support of BJP Lok Sabha candidates, Shah asserted that for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, only four ''castes'' exist in the country and they are the poor, youth, farmers and women, and his main aim was their empowerment.

''Members of the INDI alliance won't be able to do any good for people. These dynastic parties will never do any good for the poor, Dalits, farmers, youths, tribal, women and backward communities. If there is anyone who is committed to their welfare, then it is Prime Minister Modi's government,'' the former BJP president maintained.

Shah was addressing an election meeting in the Katni area under the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat from where the saffron party has re-nominated sitting MP and state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma.

These parties can only indulge in corruption and financial irregularities, and that is reflected in their history too as he highlighted UPA-era scams like those related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2G, land-for-jobs, Saradha chit fund, and the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association, among others, he said.

''The only aim of these family-oriented parties is to get power for their sons, daughters and nephews. The aim of Sharad Pawar is to make his daughter chief minister (of Maharashtra), Uddhav Thackeray to make his son CM, (M K) Stalin to make his son CM, Mamata Banerjee to make her nephew CM (of Bengal) and of (Congress leader) Sonia Gandhi to make Rahul Baba Prime Minister,'' Shah remarked.

The Congress ruled the country for 70 years on the basis of casteism, dynastic politics, and corruption but Modi in the last ten years has worked to wipe them out from the country, he claimed.

If the INDIA bloc wins, OBCs will be the biggest losers since the Congress is an anti-OBC party and it had suppressed the Kakasaheb Karlelkar and Mandal Commission reports, he claimed.

In the Modi government, there are 27 OBC ministers and 37 percent MPs are from the OBC segment, Shah said, adding the NDA government had given 27 per cent quota to OBCs.

Recalling the UPA regime (2004-14), the Union Home Minister said during those ten years, the country frequently faced terror strikes and bomb blasts, but the Congress, which headed that government, didn't do anything to stop them.

After 2014, when the BJP came to power at the Centre under Modi's leadership, within ten days of the Pulwama attack, the country conducted surgical and air strikes inside Pakistan to eliminate terrorists.

The Modi government abrogated Article 370 and integrated Kashmir with India forever, Shah said, adding the Centre had effectively curbed terrorism and Naxalism.

Shah also slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for asking what the rest of India has to do with Kashmir and said the latter doesn't know that every inch of the country is owned by its people.

The Congress kept the Ram Temple issue hanging for decades whereas Modi laid its foundation and also took part in the idol consecration on January 22, which the Congress boycotted, Shah said.

''On April 17, we will see the first Ram Navami in 500 years when the deity will be in his abode and not a tent,'' Shah said.

He said, in the last 10 years, the Indian economy has jumped from the 11th place to the 5th in terms of size, and asked voters to give another term to PM Modi so that the country occupies the third largest slot.

Shah listed welfare schemes launched by the Modi government like Ujjwala (providing LPG connections to women from poor households), Ayushman (free treatment for up to Rs 5 lakh), free ration to crores of people and Kisan Samman Nidhi (financial aid to farmers), among others.

Toilets were constructed in 80 lakh households to give respect to women and 88 lakh sisters and mothers were provided LPG cylinders to ensure a smoke-free kitchen environment, he said.

The Modi government is providing 5kg free ration per person every month to 70 to 80 crore people in the country much to the surprise of the world, the Union minister noted.

Modi earned praise across the world for the success of the Chandrayaan Mission, and he had named the lunar touch down point as Shiv Shakti, Shah added.

Slamming senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, Shah said the Congress gave MP Rs 1.99 lakh crore for the state's development in 10 years, while the Modi government had given Rs 7.74 lakh crore.

Earlier in the day, Shah addressed an election rally in Mandla in support of BJP candidate and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste.

Shah said 25 crore people were taken out of poverty by the Modi government in 10 years, while in Madhya Pradesh alone, 95 lakh farmers were given the Kisan Samman Nidhi assistance (of Rs 6,000 per year), 70 lakh women got tap water connection in their houses and more than four crore people got the benefit of the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

He said the Congress did nothing for the tribal community in its long rule, while the Modi government ensured the country got a tribal woman President in Droupadi Murmu.

It was the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee that formed a separate ministry for tribal welfare, while the Modi dispensation started the practice of observing Adivasi Gaurav Diwas in memory of tribal icon Birsa Munda, Shah said.

The BJP government in MP was the first to roll out the PESA Act and had also built hundreds of 'Eklayvya' schools in the past 10 years for tribal students.

''The Modi government created the District Mineral Fund for development of the tribal districts. Through this, Rs1 lakh crore has been spent,'' Shah pointed out.

The Mandla (ST reserved) Lok Sabha seat will vote in the first phase on April 19 and Khajuraho in the second round on April 26.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)