On a day the President signed on to re-promulgation of the land ordinance, Shah and PM Narendra Modi in an aggressive concert reiterated that the government will not blink on the land bill. Shah accused rivals of spreading "falsehoods" and emphasized that the legislation was pro-farmer. In his inaugural address to the BJP's two-day national executive here, he asked party workers to go to the people to counter the negative campaign being mounted by the opposition parties.
With the next big electoral fight looming in Bihar at the end of this year, Shah upped the ante by saying the state was witnessing "jungle raj" all over again after the JD(U) parted ways with BJP over Narendra Modi's projection as the party's prime ministerial candidate.
The aggressive tone contrasted with the tentativeness that had gripped the party in the wake of the Delhi debacle where it returned a tally of just three in the 70-member House. Shah called it a "minor setback" amid a string of victories and said the party was analyzing the result.
Listing out the achievements of the Modi government, Shah said there was a sea change in the mood of the country in the last 10 months. He claimed that scams under the UPA government totalled over Rs 5 lakh crore, but after the BJP assumed charge, "hope had returned to the country".
Shah also announced that the BJP had become the largest party in the world with 9.25 crore members and said it was well on its way to cross the 10 crore mark.
This is the party's first national executive after Modi became PM and Shah took over as BJP president. It comes at a time when the government is locked in a standoff with opposition parties over the land bill, which has been cleared by Lok Sabha but is stuck in the upper House where the BJP doesn't have the numbers.
Shah, however, gave a clear indication that the party had no intention of backing off on a legislation that it sees as a major driver of growth. "The opposition has deliberately spread many misgivings about the bill which is in the interest of farmers. We will take the message to farmers. BJP is a friend of farmers. It is the farmers who have given us mandate," he said.
"The opposition is desperate, hopeless and directionless. They should stop finding those faults and shortcomings which do not exist. If they have to find something, then they should try to find their leader. Instead of raising non-issues and fictional issues, they should find out where their leader is," Shah said in a barely disguised jibe at Rahul who is on leave for introspection.
Shah was equally scathing on former ally JD(U) which is in power in Bihar, saying "jungle raj" had returned to the state after the BJP exited the coalition. "After the separation, what has happened is that jungle raj-2 has returned to Bihar," he said.
"People of Bihar are very angry and upset. They want a new government led by BJP," Shah said. Accusing the JD(U) of betrayal, he added, "Last time, the people of Bihar had given the mandate to BJP and JD(U) because we were in alliance, but JD(U) ditched people's mandate and went out of the alliance. So, it is they who have betrayed."
The BJP chief alluded to 2014 as a "golden year" for the party. He said the year gone by saw the BJP returning to power at the Centre besides forming governments in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Singling out the victory in J&K as the "most significant", Shah said, "It is a mark of respect to the memory of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and a strengthening of nationalist forces which in turn takes care of the unity and security of the country."
He added, "Our rivals are trying to subvert the coalition government in J&K by spreading false and misleading information."
Shah also asked the party to get into social work, toeing the line that Modi had set on Thursday and said party workers should help the country get rid of manual scavenging and facilitate government schemes like 'Beti bachao, beti padhao' for gender sensitization and help with long-term projects like Clean Ganga and Clean India.
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