Amit Shah to cadre: Protect party’s nationalist identity

Keeping up with the ongoing political debate on nationalism, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday asked party workers to protect and carry the party’s “nationalist” identity. On the party’s 36th Foundation Day, Mr Shah told party cadres that it is “our responsibility to protect this nationalist identity”.

Saluting the party’s karyakartas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Guided by love for India and determined to take India to new heights of progress, generations of karyakartas devoted their lives to the party.” He also hailed the BJP governments in states, saying they have served people in an “exemplary manner” and that the party is proud of its industrious chief ministers.

Cautioning party cadres against complacency, Mr Shah asked them to ensure that the party emerges victorious “from panchayats to Parliament” in the next 25 years. He also told party workers not to “lose out on our unique identity” as for the BJP “power is not a purpose, but a mean to empower the poor and downtrodden”. Noting that the BJP-led Central government is moving forward keeping with the principle of “Ekatm Manav vad (integral humanism)” as its central point, Mr Shah said the government’s motto is “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.

“The BJP’s identity is that of a nationalist party and it is the responsibility of our generation to take this identity forward. It is our responsibility to protect this nationalist identity... What the BJP is today is due to the sacrifices of three generations of party workers who worked to protect the ideology and ‘Bharat Mata’ and BJP workers should remember this and not let the sacrifices be frittered away,” Mr Shah said. Mr Shah said: “We do not do politics of cunningness.”