Not celebrating, only showing work: Amit Shah

Dismissing Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s criticism that the NDA government was celebrating the completion of its two years in office when several states were facing drought,

BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday said the party was only giving a report of its work to the people.

“Do you see celebration in this This is not a celebration. I feel, taking the government’s work to people through the press, interacting directly with the people, giving an account as per its mandate is not a celebration,” he told reporters here when asked about Mr Gandhi’s comments.

Alleging that Mr Gandhi only made media statements and indulged in symbolism, Mr Shah said the NDA government helped improve the lives of the poor.

“Rahul Gandhiji only makes statements. I want to ask him, what happened to that Kalavati at whose house you stayed. We have tried to provide electricity and also gas to her. He just got a photograph taken (with her),” he said.

Kalavati Bandurkar, a Vidarbha farmer widow, shot to fame after Rahul Gandhi visited her in 2008 and narrated her plight in Parliament.

Asked about Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s criticism on PM Narendra Modi’s foreign visits, he said Mr Modi made less number of visits abroad in comparison to his predecessor Manmohan Singh. “I want to make it clear that the Prime Minister made fewer visits than Manmohan Singh. But, the problem was nobody came to know in the country or in that country when he (Mr Singh) visited. He used to read two pages of his speech in English. Sometimes even pages changed. He used to read Thailand’s (speech) in Malaysia and Malaysia’s (speech) in Thailand. Modiji is welcomed wherever he goes...,” he said.