2019 National Elections "Won't Be An Ordinary One", Says Amit Shah

After the BJP's recent losses in five states -- three big ones to the Congress and two others to regional parties -- the top leaders of the party are going all out to ensure that the results don't impact the preparations for the national elections next year. BJP's national chief Amit Shah today switched the party into election mode, attacking the Congress, which earlier ruled Delhi and the current ruler, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the same intensity.

The 2019 election, Mr Shah said, "won't be an ordinary one".

There are two types of elections -- those that leave an impression for five years, and others that are "revolutionary", Mr Shah said at a meeting of the party workers, citing the Congress defeat in 1977 as an example of the latter.

The BJP, he said, will return to power in 2019 with a bigger mandate than 2014, "The party's win will mean the victory of nationalism over casteism and nepotism. The election will drive the final nail in the coffin of those who do politics of vanshwaad, jaatiwad aur tushtikaran (nepotism, casteism and appeasement)."

Delhi will see a three-way fight among the BJP, AAP, Congress, he said, launching a frontal attack on the chiefs of the opposition parties.

"The number of lies collectively manufactured by Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi has outnumbered the lies told since Independence. They don't fulfill promises and continue to make new promises," the BJP chief charged.

He took on the Congress for the conviction of Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and then shifted his focus to the Aam Aadmi Party over former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna row in the Delhi Assembly.

The Delhi assembly rubbing salt on the wounds of the victims of the riots and AAP should be ashamed, he said. "Their hypocrisy has been exposed."

The Narendra Modi government has "done everything for the victims" he said and added, "After Sajjan Kumar was sentenced for life, he resigned. I want to ask the Congress party where the justice for the victims until now was... the BJP constituted a Special Investigation Team and made sure they are exposed."

Accusing the AAP chief of making hollow promises, Amit Shah demanded to know where were the 500 colleges and hospitals that he had promised to the people of Delhi. "Instead of hospitals they have mohalla clinics which don't have doctors or medicines. Sometimes you even find cats and dogs sitting inside," said Mr Shah.

He also counted mythical WiFi connectivity in the city, absence of CCTV cameras and women's safety as the failures of the Delhi government.

Mr Shah cornered Rahul Gandhi and his party for allegedly showing concern for "illegal immigrants in Assam" and promised that after voters pick the BJP in 2019, the government under PM Modi will ensure that "each and every infiltrator is identified and thrown out of the country".

"Vote for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year, and we promise to throw them out. Kashmir se Kanyakumari, Kohima se Kutch tak, ek ek ghuspethiye ko chun chun kar desh se bahar nikal denge (From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Kohima to Gujarat, we will identify each and every illegal immigrant and throw them out)," he said.

His speech made it clear that national security and the hotly-debated Assam citizens' register are among the top priorities of PM Modi's government.

The absence of nearly 40 lakh names from the National Citizens' Register, or NRC, in Assam translated into a full-blown political controversy, with the opposition accusing the BJP of cracking down on Muslims in Assam on the pretext of targeting illegal migrants from Bangladesh.