Amit Shah was unstoppable at the India Today Conclave 2016. Rahul Kanwal was both prepared and loaded with pre-conceived notions. But Amit Shah’s wit and honesty slashed into Kanwal’s shrewdness. There were attempts to corner him on delicate questions of national-antinational, Rohith Vemula, JNU, relations with PDP but Amit Shah not just defended himself and BJP but attacked the questioner outright. Here are some of his best quotes:
Amit Shah on National-Antinational Debate:
- We don’t react when comments are made against our leaders, but we won’t tolerate if slogans are raised against our motherland.
- We don’t do politics of convenience but politics of values which is based on the love for our country
- 99% people believe in Bharat Mata ki Jai, We’ll try and persuade the 1% who don’t think they should be saying Bharat Mata ki Jai… but It doesn’t make them traitors
- Bharat Mata ki jai and Vande matram are older than the Party that BJP is and organization that RSS is. They have been there even before BJP and RSS were formed
Amit Shah on Rohith Vemula:
- Rohith Vemula’s death is unfortunate, but suicides are a complicated subjects and there has never been discussions about their root cause
Amit Shah on JNU:
- What was so special about 9th Feb? Was it Independence Day, Republic day, if not then then why was JNU out, celebrating?
- Raising slogans in JNU is secondary, holding an event for Afzal Guru was anti-national in the first place
- What we were doing at JNU is not politics. It was not Politics. Do not link nationalism with politics, nationalism is not politics
- It was absolutely important for me as BJP President to come out in the open, take a stand and say that whatever happened at JNU was seditious
- Rahul Gandhi at JNU said ‘I am with you,’ so does that mean he stands resolutely behind those who raised anti-India slogans?
- One of the Slogans they raised was ‘Afzal ham sharminda hain, tere Qaatil zinda hain,’ So Who is ‘Qaatil,’ here? Is it Hon’ble Supreme Court, or the President of India?
Amit Shah on BJP-PDP Alliance:
- Our coalition with PDP is on the basis of a common minimum program and our government in J&K is because of the mandate of people
- Our view on what happened in JNU is not shaped by alliance with PDP or with any other party and PDP folks must be listening to what I am saying even now
- Masrat Alam was arrested because BJP was in Power in Jammu and Kashmir
Amit Shah on Intolerance:
- Google was banned just because there was a cartoon on Sonia Gandhi, there was no noise then. And they say we are intolerant.
- When TV Channels, Opposition and others decorated PM Modi with atrocious adjectives like mass murderer, Ravan etc., some people even wished for his death, did we do anything?
Amit Shah on BJP:
- Those saying that the Modi Wave is weaning must understand that we have performed impressively in local bodies – Ladakh, Kerala, Rajasthan, MP and more
- Also, you quote Delhi and Bihar, Let me take state elections as referendum on Modi sarkaar, we have won 4/6 elections after BJP formed government in centre? How about that?
- I guarantee that there will be no corruption in Modi’s tenure
Amit Shah on Congress:
- The slogan slogan ‘Bihari Vs Bahari’ was actually meant for Rahul
- I don’t want to conceal the fact that I don’t have cordial relations with Sonia and Rahul
Amit Shah on Media:
- No TV channel raises issue of communist violence in Kerala. We have been losing our karyakartas at an alarming rate
- About JNU, why did India Today not run a poll asking if what happened in JNU was correct? Let me guess. You already know the answer.
Amit Shah on Pakistan Aggression on Border:
- We give befitting reply on border whenever there firing from the Pak side. They have been crying in UNO ever since Modi came to power
Amit Shah about himself:
- Modiji is a powerful person, I am not, I just oversee the organisation
- I don’t work on the basis of aura, but work on the basis of ideology.
- It is my duty as the Party President of BJP to ensure that I build a Congress Mukt Bharat