PM Modi addressed BJP workers on a day the party won Tripura and expanded its footprint in the Northeast
On a day the BJP stormed the Red bastion of Tripura putting an end to 25 years of Left rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called his party's journey in the state from "no one" to "won". The BJP that failed to win a single seat in the last assembly elections has won 35 seats this time, enough to form the government on its own. Its ally IPFT has won eight seats.
"The setting sun is red in colour but when the sun rises it is saffron," PM Modi said, addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
Hitting out at the Left government in Tripura where the BJP claims nine of its workers were killed in the past year, PM Modi said, "Using fear and falsehood as weapons, people with Maoist ideology and Left parties perpetrated atrocities. The people of Tripura have responded with their votes".
Calling the CPM's response to the Tripura results "stunning", PM Modi offered a piece of advice -- "Political parties not only need to digest victory but also accept defeat with sportsman spirit".
The CPM has alleged that the "BJP utilised massive deployment of money and other resources to influence the elections".
In his half-hour speech, the prime minister showered lavish praise on BJP chief Amit Shah for strengthening the party. "I have seen Amit bhai from his student days. It feels proud to see him notching up one success after another and taking the party forward."
Highlighting the importance of cadre and party organisation, PM Modi said, "In Tripura, we had no celebrities, no heroism. The BJP election team there was the youngest. We have to check the birth certificates of our candidates before they filed their nomination. They looked so young. The victory is an indicator of the work that the BJP and the centre has done".
PM Modi also took a dig at the Congress that could not win any seat in Tripura and Nagaland. "There are some parties in the country where people may rise up in rank but their stature goes down. The stature of the Congress was never so low as it is today," he said.