In an exclusive interview with Network18, MD & Group-Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah provided insights into his party’s perspective on the accusations linking the Congress manifesto to symbols like the mangalsutra and associations with the Muslim League.
Exposing political intentions
Shah emphasized the BJP’s responsibility in exposing the intentions of political rivals, particularly regarding issues of governance and identity. He highlighted the contrast between the BJP’s commitment to the Uniform Civil Code and Congress’ stance favouring personal laws.
“It is our responsibility to expose the intentions of those who contest elections against us. Tell me, in this era, can any political party talk of personal laws? Will the country run on the basis of Sharia? On the one hand, in our manifesto, in our Sankalp Patra, we talk about bringing a uniform civil code. Congress is saying that it will promote personal laws. The Congress must answer because this is a very important issue,” Shah said.
Muslim League association
Drawing parallels with the Muslim League, Shah said that Congress’ emphasis on minority-centric policies mirrored historical approaches. He questioned the fairness of prioritising minorities in government contracts based solely on religious grounds.
“Exactly, it is the imprint of the Muslim League… They are saying that for the contracts of the country, they will give priority to minorities. Who is the first lowest, what is the past performance, whether they have the capability to do the work or not, will contracts be decided on the basis of this or on the basis of religion? How do they want to run the country? The people of the country will have to decide. After a long time, Narendra Modi ji has taken the country out of the politics of appeasement. They want to take it back in the same direction again because the Congress does not have the confidence to win,” the Union home minister said.
On 6 April this year, virtually equating the Congress with the Muslim League, Prime Minister Modi said the grand old party’s election manifesto reflects the same thought as that of the Muslim League at the time of the freedom movement adding the Congress party, which existed at the time of the freedom movement, has “ended decades ago”.
Prime Minister Modi noted that many influential figures, like Mahatma Gandhi, were once part of the Congress and pointed out that today’s Congress lacks policies and a vision for the nation’s development during an election rally in Saharanpur. The prime minister further said that the Congress election manifesto reinforces the growing gap between the current Congress and the aspirations of modern India.
Wealth redistribution and minority rights
In the course of the interview, Shah referred to former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s statement, which Prime Minister Modi articulated a few days back, regarding minorities’ supposed first right to the country’s resources, particularly highlighting Muslims. He expressed concerns about the potential redistribution of wealth among specific groups.
“It comes from the statement of the then prime minister of the country, Manmohan Singh, which was a very famous statement that the minorities have the first right to the resources of this country, and among the minorities, particularly Muslims. Now when it comes to distributing wealth, it will be from resources only. The government will distribute it by taking people’s property. And I say that if this is not true, then the Congress party should clarify what this means,” the Union home minister said.
Previously Prime Minister Modi while speaking at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara slammed the Congress party’s promise of financial survey and said it seeks to seize the “hard-earned wealth” of the public and distribute it among infiltrators and those who have more children. While lashing out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s proposed financial and institutional survey, Prime Minister Modi invoked a statement of his predecessor Manmohan Singh and said the Congress intends to snatch away the wealth of the public and distribute it to those whom Singh said have the first right on the country’s resources: Muslims.
Prime Minister Modi had called the Congress party’s proposed survey “serious and worrisome”.
Mangalsutra connection
Explaining from where the mangalsutra link emerged, Shah said, “Naturally, when the issue of wealth comes, all these things are included.”
Earlier, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
while addressing a rally in Rajasthan stirred up the ‘mangalsutra row’, alleging that married women’s mangalsutras won’t be safe if the Congress was voted to power.
The Congress, however, reacted sharply with party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launching a scathing attack on the prime minister for his comments, questioning if such a thing has ever happened in the 50-year rule of the party. The Congress general secretary further added that her mother Sonia Gandhi’s mangalsutra was sacrificed for the sake of the country, whereas her grandmother, Indira Gandhi’s, gold was donated during the war in 1962.
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