BJP president Amit Shah says...

2 January 2017

Salient points of the speech of Bhartiya Janta Party national president Amit Shah sent from his office during Parivartan Maha Rally, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

When we launched series of Parivartan rallies, friends in the media used to ask who will form the next government in Uttar Pradesh when elections are held in February-March. Today, when I see the turnout at the Parivartan Maha Rally here, I am sure media will now speculate on which party will come second in the polls.

The series of Parivartan rallies have travelled through each and every assembly constituency in the state. It is now certain that BJP will form the next government in the state with two-third majority.  After a gap of 15 years, UP will get a development oriented government that will work towards making it the most prosperous state in the country. The BJP government will be committed to make Uttar Pradesh “Uttam Pradesh”.

When we talk of Parivartan Yatra, it is not to change a few MLAs, ministers, government or the CM but this Yatra is meant to change the prevailing situation in Uttar Pradesh. We plan to bring about change at the ground level and take development to the grass roots.

In 15 years, the shift of governance between SP and BSP and the politics of Chacha-Bhatija and Bua-Bhatija has destroyed UP. Neither Chacha-Bhatija nor Bua can develop UP. Only a full majority BJP government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi can take the state on path of progress and development.

When we talk about our commitment to development, it is not a hollow claim. One must look at states like MP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, and Goa where BJP government has brought all round development.

On the other hand, UP lacks 24 hour supply of power, schools and teachers in villages, adequate medical centres, cheap medicines, road connectivity and facility for purchase of crop from farmers.

UP is blessed with abundant natural resources. There is plenty of water due to rivers like Yamuna, Ganga and Gomti, land is both plain and fertile, and the state has most hardworking farmers while the youth here are both sharp and intelligent. Yet, the state has remained backward and poor.

If you see the foundation of any mega city in the country today – be it Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Delhi or Gurgaon – it has been developed due to the hard work of youth from UP.  It is unfortunate that the youth from UP, who has contributed so much for development of other parts of the country could not develop his own state. That is because the last 15 years saw governments of SP and BSP that completely destroyed the state.

I have no hesitation in saying that if the country is walking on the path of development today, the credit goes entirely to UP that gave BJP 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 elections and ensured a full majority government t under PM Modi at the centre.

Since Modiji became PM because of UP and he is Lok Sabha member from the state, he wants to usher in development here. Ever since he became PM, Modiji gave additional resources of 100,000 crore rupees every year to UP. However, the state has failed to develop despite massive additional resources due to rampant corruption in state government.

It is impossible for UP to develop till voters throw out Samajwadi Party’s corrupt and goonda government in the state. You will be surprised to know that the cost of the national highway that will connect Chardham in Uttarakhand, which will cut across the mountainous region and is longer than Agra-Lucknow Highway, is lower than the cost incurred to build the latter. Such is the level of corruption under Akhilesh Yadav’s government.

The goonda element of Samajwadi Party has grabbed the land of the poor in the state and no FIR is registered. If BJP forms the government in the state, I assure you that these goons will either vacate the land grabbed by them or they will leave the state.

We gave governments in UP under Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh. Both the governments had no place for goons. There were no riots and the citizens did not have to lead a life of fear. I ask you to give one more opportunity to BJP and put an end to SP-BSP rule in the state.

Neither SP nor BSP can put an end to corruption in the state. On the other hand, the BJP has been in the government at the centre for 2.5 years but not even opposition has levy even one allegation of corruption against us. Before demonetization came into effect, all opposition leaders used to ask Modiji about the steps taken to combat generation of black money. But after November 8, the opposition that was constantly demanding action from the PM against corruption is now questioning the government’s decision to ban 1,000 rupee and 500 rupee notes. All these leaders are now crestfallen.

The demonetization drive will help poor farmers, unemployed youth, Dalits, and other marginalized sections to get an equal footing and status in the society. After many years, we now have a PM who wants the poor to march ahead and prosper.

The benefits of demonetization have started to show. Banks have cut lending rates by 1% while both farmers and small traders have seen a significant increase in their loan allocation. The FD rate for senior citizens has also been fixed at 8%. There will be more benefits from demonetization exercise in the coming days.

The election issue is not whether chacha or bhatija will become CM but the issue is whether youth are getting jobs, farmers are getting right price for their harvest, and power is reaching villages.  For 60 years, there were Congress governments at the centre but none of them worked to replace harmful smoke in kitchens of poor families with clean cooking fuel.

However, the Modi government has provided 1.5 crore LPG connections to poor families in just 2.5 years. Further, the government has provided bank accounts to 20 crore people in this period.

We also introduced crop insurance scheme at a nominal premium that provides comprehensive cover - right from sowing of seeds to reaping and harvesting. However, the benefits of this scheme have not reached the farmers of UP because the state government did not appoint an agency to collect the premium.

In the last 2.5 years, the BJP government has launched a new scheme every 15 days for the benefit of poor, youth, backwards, dalits, tribals, women, and farmers. However, the benefits of these schemes is yet to reach in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government in UP is not allowing these schemes to reach villages because it fears that if the benefits from these plans go to the masses, the popularity of PM Modi will go up.