Amit Shah claims no major riots under NDA’s rule

New Delhi: Asserting that no major communal riot has occurred in states ruled by the BJP, party president Amit Shah on Thursday said Narendra Modi led NDA government has ensured welfare of the poor irrespective of their religious background. Addressing the party’s minority morcha ‘s convention, Mr Shah, in an apparent dig at the Congress, said those who claimed that minorities have the first right on the country’s resources did nothing for them.

“There were people who used to say that minorities have first right on the resources of the country but they did not give them that right. Whereas we believed that poor have the first right on the country’s resources and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government ensured this by providing benefits to all poor irrespective of their religion,” said Mr Shah at the inaugural session.

Questioning the opposition, Mr Shah asked why minorities are lagging behind despite the fact that those people who kept “appeasing minorities” ruled the country for nearly five decades. Asserting that Mr Modi and the BJP follows the motto of “sabka sath sabka vikas” (with all, development for all), Mr Shah said misconceptions were spread about the BJP that if it comes to power, people from different cultures would not able to practice their traditions.

“As a BJP chief, with pride I can say that today the BJP is in power in 16 states and not a single major riot happened during the party’s tenure. The riots stopped happening in the country as soon as the Congress, the SP and the BSP governments ended in the states. A fake propaganda was running against the BJP that if it comes to power what will be happen to people of various religions in the country,” Mr Shah said amid loud chants of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

The BJP president said the “‘waqf mafia” looted waqf boards’ lands under protection by pseudo-secular parties but the Modi government ensured transparency in all such matters.

Referring to NDA government’s push for passage of the Triple Talaq Bill, which calls for imprisonment for Muslim men accused of instant divorce, Mr Shah said it is meant to give justice to Muslim women. He said the NDA government’s initiatives led to school dropout rate of Muslim girls decreasing to 32 per cent from 72 and the government’s schemes to connect the poor with power and cooking gas connections have benefitted Muslim women as well.

Mr Shah also said that the Modi government has strengthened the democracy at grass-root level in Jammu and Kashmir, which was mainly ruled by “two families”. He said the BJP has strengthened democracy in the valley by holding local body elections in the state and strengthening the sarpanchs there.

“People kept on saying Kashmir, Kashmir, Kashmir... It has been ruled by two families... Abdullah family and the Mufti family. Local body elections were not held for more than a decade in the state. The BJP government ensured that local body elections should happen in the state to strengthen the hands of sarpanchs,” Mr Shah said.