Amit Shah said PM Modi had always held people's well-being as the most important principle
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in the past 20 years worked towards realising the "welfare state" envisioned by India's constitution writers, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said today, paying tribute to the PM's long and unbroken tenure as head of elected governments.
In a series of tweets composed in Hindi, which included a video message, Mr Shah said Prime Minister Modi had always held people's well-being as the most important principle.
"If someone can truly understand the aspirations of 130 crore Indians, it is Narendra Modi. With his far-sighted thinking, he wants to build an India that is strong, modern, and self-reliant. I heartily congratulate him for his 20th year as a people's representative," he said in one such tweet.
"When he was given an opportunity by the party and was made a PM candidate, people of this nation stood with him and after 30 years a party was given the opportunity to form a government with absolute majority," he said in another.
Several BJP leaders and union ministers today tweeted messages with the hashtag #20thYearOfNamo.
PM Narendra Modi, 70, took oath as Chief Minister of Gujarat on October 7, 2001; he was elected to the state assembly on February 24, 2002.
Mr Shah has been a close companion and colleague of Prime Minister Modi's even before this period. He was Minister of State for Home in Gujarat during Mr Modi's Tenure as Chief Minister.