Prime Minister Narendra Modi during celebration of BJP’s victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections and in several bypolls, at BJP headquarters in New Delhi, on November 23, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the victory secured by the BJP and its allies in Maharashtra and substantial victories in bypolls in several States as one for “unity” and the spirit behind the slogan ‘ek hain toh safe hain’ (united we remain safe).
The slogan, coined by Prime Minister Modi just before the advent of the Maharashtra Assembly campaign, spoke to the BJP’s call against the fragmentation of votes on the basis of castes, which cost the party heavily, along with the Opposition’s narrative that the BJP wanted a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha polls to make radical changes in the Constitution.
Maharashtra election results 2024: LIVE coverage
“The people of Maharashtra have loudly affirmed the spirit behind ‘ek hai toh safe hai’. This slogan has defeated those who sought to divide society into castes, religion, language, and handed out punishment to those who sought to divide society. It is a strong attack on the Congress and its ecosystem that wants to divide society,” he said during an address to BJP workers at the party headquarters after Saturday’s results.
“It is a victory of vikasvaad (development), good governance, true social justice and the defeat of lies, cunning and betrayal. Divisive forces, negative politics and dynasticism was defeated,” he further said, attributing the NDA’s victory to the support of women, youth and farmers.
In a strong attack on the Congress, he said the Opposition party and the Gandhi family had “in their lust for power” shattered the spirit of panth nirpekshta (treating all denominations as equals) that was enshrined in the Constitution. “They espoused fake secularism, and destroyed the tradition of panth nirpekshta, sowing the seeds of appeasement and a betrayal of the Constituent Assembly of India. They have betrayed the Constitution,” he said.
Mr. Modi said the Congress had “betrayed” even the Supreme Court for appeasement politics, and a prime example was the Waqf Act. “The Constitution does not have any place for the Waqf Act, but the Congress enacted this for appeasement to safeguard their vote bank,” he said. The NDA government at the Centre has moved several amendments to the Waqf Act and the Bill is now before a Joint Committee of Parliament.
A big part of the Maharashtra campaign had been the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s opposition to several projects in the State and in the capital Mumbai including a project to redevelop Dharavi by the Adani Group. The Prime Minister, without taking names, said the Congress’s “urban naxalism” was “a danger to the country” with “the remote control being outside the country”. Young and professional classes have to understand the reality of the Congress, he said.
“The poor and middle classes in urban areas, all have reposed their faith in BJP and given a clear message. They want a modern India of world-class cities, and has rejected those presented roadblocks to development be it metro projects, electric buses, coastal roads, airports, sanitation, etc,” he said.
The other big message of the mandate, he said, was that across the country, only one Constitution, that of India, framed by B.R. Ambedkar was acceptable. “Whoever, whether manifestly or covertly, talks of two Constitutions, will be rejected by the people,” he said, in reference to efforts by the newly-sworn in government of Jammu and Kashmir passing a resolution to restore Article 370, terming it “an insult to the Constitution”. “No power on earth can bring back Article 370. This poll in Maharashtra has exposed the hypocrisy of the MVA and INDIA bloc,” he said.
He said the people had addressed the “betrayal” of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in breaking its alliance with the BJP in 2019, and that the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) ally, had exposed the alliance’s inorganicness in never praising Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray or RSS ideologue V.D. Savarkar through these years.
Published – November 23, 2024 10:30 pm IST