Amit Shah hails Modi for uplifting the poor

New Delhi: Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for uplifting the standard of living of the poor and the marginalised, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday said Mr Modi is perhaps the only Prime Minister post-Independence who has not taken a single day off from his office.

At the launch of a coffee-table book on the Prime Minister, Mr Shah said it was the work done in Gujarat by Mr Modi during his tenure as the chief minister that the country saw a ray of hope in him and brought the BJP to power with a huge mandate in 2014. 

Mr Shah said the mandate was people’s blessings to Mr Modi and the BJP. 

Mr Shah said while economic pundits may criticise the Modi government for a “jobless growth”, but the country with a population of 125 crore cannot tackle unemployment only with jobs. 

He said 7.28 crore people have become self-employed under the Centre’s Mudra loan scheme in three years.

“Economic pundits talk about a jobless growth and try to tear out the few hair that I have on my head by asking where the jobs are?” Mr Shah said, tongue firmly in cheek. He said Mr Modi had focused on self-employment and skill development in Gujarat as well during his tenure as the chief minister. 

Highlighting Modi government’s schemes for the poor and the marginalised, Mr Shah said that the government’s biggest success was that it had provided opportunities to “the last man in the queue” to lift himself out of poverty.

He said the government has ensured that every household has a bank account and has built over 4.38 crore toilets to give dignity to poor women who were otherwise forced to defecate in open. He also mentioned that the government has set a target of giving five crore LPG connections to poor women by 2019 and to every household by 2024.

Taking a dig at previous governments, the BJP president said many prime ministers who spoke about development and the poor had come and gone but it was left to Mr Modi to build toilets, open bank accounts and provide the poor other basic facilities. Mr Shah said while debates were held in the past on whether a government should focus on urban or rural India, on industry or agriculture and on reform or welfare schemes but the preseent government has created a balance between them.

He also expressed his disagreement with the use of the word “legend” in the book’s title for Mr Modi and said it was not an appropriate choice for a man who had worked in a “natural and simple manner” like a ‘karyakarta’.