Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Goa to raise the bar and set their sights on getting a complete majority in next year’s assembly elections on its own, a feat that the BJP has achieved only once in the past.
Shah said it is only when the BJP has a complete majority that it can provide a decisive government.
“Why do we need a complete majority? How do two MLAs more, or less matter? It makes a difference. You tell me if Modi hadn’t got a complete majority, would the Ram Janmabhoomi temple be built in Ayodhya? If there was no full majority, would we have been able to revoke Article 370? If there was no full majority, would we have been able to take India on a path of development?” Shah said in his address at a convention of BJP workers.
Nudging party workers to target getting a “complete majority’ was a recurring theme in Amit Shah’s address on Thursday. The only occasion when the BJP secured a majority on its own in Goa was in the 2012 general elections when the party won 21 of the state assembly’s 40 seats, while the Congress got just 9 seats.
In the 2017 elections, the Congress emerged as the largest single party with 17 seats but was slow to tie up alliances to come close to the majority mark of 21, as compared with the BJP which won 13 seats but secured enough support from the newly-elected MLAs to clear the trust vote. Over the next few years, the BJP’s strength was bolstered by inducting 13 MLAs from the Congress and 2 from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to raise the party’s tally to 27.
At Thursday’s convention, Shah continued to convince the local BJP workers to focus on the ambitious target.
“Everyone says double engine government (with BJP both in power in the Centre and the state). You form a double-engine government, but some compartments are falling short. Am I right or wrong? We do not want a government with fewer compartments. Step into the electoral fray to bring a government with a complete majority. Complete majority means stability, complete majority means the right to govern without hassles, complete majority means the right to rule corruption free, complete majority means the ability to implement antyodaya (compassion for the lowliest) principles,” Shah told a convention of around a thousand party workers.
This is not important just for the BJP, but for Goa too, he said turning to the state’s voters.
“Why should we be concerned about aaya raams gaya raams. Elect a government with a complete majority, and it will be our responsibility to double the speed of development…. It comes with many advantages; it also leads to transparency. Modi was able to transform India because of a government with complete majority, in 7 years, just 7 years against the Congress’ 60 years,” Shah said, appealing to the coastal state’s electorate to elect a BJP government.
“Goa is already a model state, but we will make it a kind of model state which you may have not even imagined. It is a small state, it just needs some effort and one direction. It can only happen when there is a complete majority,” Shah said.
Shah advised party workers to focus on polling booths where the party didn’t do well the last time.
“We will have to explain to them how governments used to function with the help of horse-trading and corruption. Look at the transformation today. There is no sign of corruption,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)