The Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah turned 60 on Thursday (October 22, 2024). At such an age, Amit Shah’s achievements put him on a different level among his contemporaries. Under the leadership of Amit Shah, who has been handling the Home Ministry of the country since May 2019, not only has India’s internal security strengthened, there has also been strong action on terrorism in Kashmir and Maoists in states like Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand. In this way, Amit Shah has proved to be not only a skilled organizer but also a good administrator.
Amit Shah’s political career, became BJP President before the age of 50
A brief look at his political career. Amit Shah joined RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) at the age of 14, became a companion of Narendra Modi at 17, joined BJP at the age of 22, became a minister in the Gujarat government at the age of 35 and became the president of BJP before turning 50. During his presidential tenure, BJP broke the myth of being a party of only the Hindi belt or the so-called ‘cow belt’ and formed government in all the states of the Northeast.
Amit Shah is a known disciplinarian. Many leaders who work with him even say that he neither sleeps nor lets others sleep, he is a task-master. The most important thing is that he leads by example. During Amit Shah’s presidential tenure, BJP registered victory in big states like Karnataka and Bihar, and emerged as the second largest force in non-Hindi speaking states like Odisha and West Bengal. Now BJP has also formed government in Odisha. The entire Northeast has been painted saffron during his tenure.
Amit Shah does not wear a wrist watch
One special thing about Amit Shah that many people do not know is that he does not wear a watch. Till now we have heard about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s peculiar way of wearing the watch upside down. That is, the watch belt is on the upper side of his wrist and the time-showing part of the watch is below the wrist. PM Narendra Modi’s logic behind this is that while giving a speech or meeting someone, he does not have to straighten his hand to see the watch. Hence, the person in front does not know that he is looking at his watch.
PM Modi believes that due to wearing the watch upside down, the person in front does not know that he is seeing the time because it would not look good if he comes to know. On the other hand, his colleague Amit Shah, who is 14 years younger than him, does not wear a watch on his wrist. Anirban Ganguly, Honorary Director of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Research Foundation (SPMRF) and Shivanand Dwivedi, Senior Research Fellow in the same institution, have explained the reason for this in their book ‘Amit Shah and the March of BJP’.
If a leader who is disciplined and punctual does not wear a watch, then people are bound to be surprised. In this book, citing Amit Shah’s conversation with the workers, it has been told that the reason behind his not wearing a watch is his RSS background and ideology. When a senior BJP leader asked him why he does not wear a wrist watch, Amit Shah had told that the trend of gift exchange in public life starts with a watch and a pen. Amit Shah had told that as soon as he entered public life, he had stopped exchanging gifts and that is why he does not wear a watch.
On the other hand, leaders like Siddaramaiah and Imran Khan
You see, on the contrary, other leaders have expensive hobbies, you will see them wearing expensive watches. In March 2018, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was accused of wearing a watch worth Rs 40 lakh. Amit Shah had also raised this matter against the Congress leader in a public meeting. Amit Shah had asked in the rally whether anyone there had a watch worth Rs 40 lakh? He also went on to say that Siddaramaiah is a ‘socialist’ leader, wearing a watch worth Rs 40 lakh, this shows how much corruption he has been involved in. It is clear that the Hindutva and Sangh ideology that Amit Shah follows have made him this way. Except for some special occasions during the elections, Shah does not use private jets, he started the trend of BJP leaders staying in circuit or guest houses instead of five star hotels during their visit.
In comparison, one can have a look at the neighboring country Pakistan. You will remember the Toshakhana episode of Pakistan, under which the then Prime Minister Imran Khan was accused of selling expensive gifts received from abroad. He was also arrested after being convicted by the court. The gifts he sold also included Rolex watches, as well as a watch of Graff company worth 10 crore Pakistani rupees. This watch was gifted to Imran Khan by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. It was a customized watch, meaning it was made by placing a special order.
Those who talk big about ideology should learn from Amit Shah. Today we are seeing how equipment worth crores was installed in the ‘Sheesh Mahal’ of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Akhilesh Yadav’s house looks as dazzling as the White House. Tejashwi Yadav, who was the Deputy CM of Bihar, was accused of taking away everything from the AC to the bed while vacating the bungalow. Amidst all the rest, Amit Shah stands apart in terms of discipline and adherence to ideology, setting an example.