"Tribal Community Stands With BJP": Amit Shah In Gujarat

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the tribal communities in the country stand firmly with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing a public rally at Dediapada, a tribal pocket in South Gujarat, the Union Home Minister said, "Previous Congress governments did not work nearly as much in decades as Modi-ji for the empowerment of our tribal communities. This is why our tribal brothers and sisters today stand firmly with the BJP."

In a separate rally in the Tapi district of the poll-bound state, earlier on Sunday, Mr Shah took aim at the Congress for 'misleading' the people.

"There is a BJP government in Gujarat since 1990 and the Congress is saying that the work of the Congress speaks for itself. What work is it talking about when it has not been in power in the state since 1990? The Congress misleads people. A party, which has not been in power for ages, has no work to boast of. It should be ashamed. Ever since the BJP came to power in Gujarat, the state has seen development in every field," the Union Home minister said.

Mr Shah said the Modi government honoured the tribal communities by making a tribal woman as the country's President.

"During the Congress rule, a budetary allocation of Rs 1,000 crores was made for tribal welfare. However, the BJP government increased the outlay for tribals to Rs 1 lakh crores. The Congress has nothing to talk about in Gujarat, which is why Rahul-baba is not coming to campaign in the state and is visiting other places, instead," the Home minister said.

Targeting the Congress for not removing Article 370 from Jammu Kashmir, Shah said it was the BJP government that integrated Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian union through the abrogation of Article 370.

"When the Modi government removed Article 370, the Congress said there will be rivers of blood. But leave aside rivers of blood, no one dared to throw even a single stone," Mr Shah said.

Mr Shah said the Modi government knows how to give a befitting reply to Pakistan or any other country.

"During previous Congress governments, any Tom, Dick and Harry would cross over from Pakistan into India and run away after beheading our soldiers. Even after Modi-ji was elected PM, there were terror attacks in Pulwama and Uri. However, what Pakistan didn't know was that this wasn't a government of Manmohan Singh. Within 10 days, our forces entered Pakistan, striking terror havens on their own soil," Mr Shah said.

Gujarat will poll in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will take place on December 8.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)