Union Home Minister Amit Shah graced the ‘Naya Bharat, Ubharta Bharat’ of News18’s Rising Bharat Summit-2024 on Wednesday (March 20). He spoke on a range of topics, including Lok Sabha elections, the now-scrapped Electoral Bonds Scheme, the Citizenship Act, Jammu and Kashmir’s political scenario, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) action on politicians and women’s empowerment.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also shed light on his personal opinions about several social issues and different claims of the Opposition parties. Here are a few excerpts from the union minister’s address.
Anchor: This time, Amit ji, it’s a different number game altogether. You have chosen a bold target of 370, over 400 for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Are you viewing this as a wave election? What is the reason behind your confidence that the BJP will get 370 seats?
Amit Shah: Whenever the history of the country is written in the 75 years post- independence, these 10 years of Modi ji’s governance will be written in golden letters. In these 10 years, people have witnessed how a new image of the country was established in front of the world.
Every citizen of the country proudly says ‘Yes, I’m an Indian.’ Any person with an Indian passport is treated with utmost respect around the world today. In these 10 years, 60 crore poor people, who were cut off from growth, who didn’t have bank accounts, toilets in their houses, gas connections, electricity, water in their taps, had to struggle for food, had no health facilities in the past 70 years, they have all got every single one of these in just the past 10 years.
In a way, the task of bringing these 60 crore people together with the framework of Bharat was completed by Narendra Modi. In these 10 years itself, something that the nation has been long waiting for, that India’s framework stands high in the global forum, has been achieved. Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji had left the Indian economy as the 11th largest economy, Manmohan Singh ji maintained it at 11th for 10 years, and Modiji brought it from 11th to 5th spot in just the past 10 years. And today, through your event, I want to say to the people of India, that Modi guarantees that you bless us with the third term and we will become the third largest economy in the world. In these 10 years, India became a manufacturing hub, the digital revolution has spread from a sabzi vala to the biggest of corporates, India’s startups are doing wonders in the world, sarvagrahi, sarvasprshiya, sarvasamaveshi education system has begun, that gives the youth of the country to proudly stand at the global stage.
In these 10 years, India has become safe. A strong message has been sent to neighbours who would carry out bomb blasts in India regularly. India has shown the courage to eliminate terrorism by entering into their very homes with surgical strikes and air strikes. In these 10 years, age-old issues like Article 370 abrogation, 35A, Ram Mandir consecration, making the Baba Vishwanath corridor, ending Triple Talaq, bringing CAA, bringing UCC, – all these issues that no one dared to even touch, Modiji has shown the courage to bring them and implement them with no disturbance on the ground. These 10 years will be written in golden letters for Bharat’s internal security as well.
We were surrounded by three hotspots – Kashmir, Northeast, and Naxalism. Under the leadership of Modiji, 75 percent of violence in these three areas has reduced and development has begun. The biggest achievement in these 10 years has been that earlier, only governments used to work for the development of the country, but in 20147, when India celebrates 100 years of Independence, 130 crore people will be part of the country’s success. Our target is to cross 400 seats, the lotus symbol will win more than 370 seats, and we will achieve this because for the first time, a prime minister is leading from the front, standing with the poor, supporting the youth, becoming a brother for a poor sister to fulfill the dreams of the people of the country. I have full faith that under the leadership of Modiji, the BJP will get more than 370 seats, the NDA will get more than 400 seats and yet again, the Modi government will be formed.
Anchor: The one issue that has become a burning issue in this election is electoral bonds. I want to know what is your opinion on this. Do you think it will bring back black money, the names of those who bought these bonds are out in public, do you think this is appropriate and what do you think of this in the future?
Amit Shah: The citizens of the country are bound by whatever decision the Supreme Court announces. I respect the Supreme Court’s decision. However, in my personal opinion, black money was going to be over due to bonds, and because of the decision to ban electoral bonds, black money will return to the election process. That’s why, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the entire INDI alliance was against the electoral bonds.
They wanted that just like in old times, the cut money that used to come should return to politics. Earlier, donations used to come in the form of cash. If a contribution of Rs 1500 used to come, politicians would put 100 in the party fund and stash the rest in their accounts in the Swiss banks where taxes and donations are not disclosed. With bonds, this entire money is deposited into the party’s account via cheques. This entire team Rahul Gandhi is used to old practices. Whether the party gets funds or not, they want their generations to live comfortably.
This is what Modi ji ended by bringing bonds. In 2014, the donation that my party used to receive, 81% of the donors were undisclosed. In 2018, this came down to 17%. In 2023, this has further come down to 3%. Our party has transparently achieved this. The motive of secrecy was that if someone donates to one party, another party shouldn’t take up a vindictive approach towards the donor. But now, everything will be a secret as no one would know how much a party got since it’ll be all cash. We are being accused that we have received a huge amount of donations – Rs 6,200 crore. The INDI alliance has received Rs 6,200 crore even though we have 303 seats in Lok Sabha. How many seats do they have? We have 17 governments, and we have our party running in every state. In 2019, the Rs 6,000 crore that we got, out of this, the bonds that opened in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, we have got Rs 3,071 crore donation. When the Model Code of Conduct comes into place, there’s no donation for some works. We have received Rs 2,640 crore after the MCC was in place for Assembly elections. More than 90% of our bond donations came while MCC was in place. Some argued that government policies were being influenced by these bonds, they don’t know that there can be no new policy after MCC gets into place.
Anchor: Rahul Gandhi calls it hafta vasooli. His party has also received Rs 1,400 crore. What is your take?
Amit Shah: Then they should answer for the Rs 1,600 crore hafta vasooli. While we have gotten Rs 6,000 crore, INDI alliance has received the same, not a penny less. Where has Rahul ji got that hafta vasooli from? Not a single rupee is hafta. It is donation brought by fair means, but if they are calling it hafta vasooli, they should answer for the donations they have received. Where have TMC, and NCP got these from?
Anchor: Some parties have made their list of donors public. Will the BJP do the same?
Amit Shah: Tomorrow anyway all of it will be in the public domain. Once it is all out, INDI alliance will not be able to show their faces to the public. Rahul Gandhi reads from chits given by some people, without understanding. He doesn’t know that he has hit the hammer on his head.
Anchor: Another thing being said about the electoral bonds is that money from 14 companies, which is around Rs 4000 crore, came when there was some kind of raid on that company.
Amit Shah: It may be the case with the money that this snob alliance has received. We have received those bonds in the 40 days of elections.
Anchor: So you’re saying that those who were raided, didn’t necessarily donate to the BJP?
Amit Shah: Everything will become crystal clear when the entire data is made public tomorrow.
Anchor: Opposition leaders question why all the CBI, ED, and Income Tax raids are always carried out on Opposition leaders. Are BJP leaders clean?
Amit Shah: This is all a lie. I want to tell the people of the country that after Modi ji came into power, strict action has been taken on black money, the ED is acting on black money. ED has found that only 5% of these probes are related to those in politics, the rest is all on those with black money. They want a system where no action is taken against politicians. I want to tell you that 95% of the actions were taken against those not part of politics. Rs 51 crore was found with Mamata ji’s minister, Rs 355 crore was found from Congress MP’s house, even SBI machines got tired of counting and they say there shouldn’t be any action. The action shouldn’t be questioned, how did Rs 355 crore come into the house of your MP is the biggest question. What do they think, the people are not watching? Matadors were brought to take away cash, another one had to be brought at 4 am since one fell short. Can Rahul baba tell the people of this country where this money was going? Whoever is found corrupt, we will take strongest actions against them and send them to jail. As far as BJP leaders are concerned, there are courts in the country. When we were in opposition, there were number of PILs, we exposed 12 lakh crores worth of corruption in your government. There were 42 PILs, there were orders on 35 of these, your own govt had to file an FIR against yourself. Why don’t you go to the court? The corrupt Congress has been trying to blind the people. The truth is that not a single rupee worth of case was filed against Modi ji in his entire term since chief minister and then prime minister.
Anchor: Do you assure the people that if a corrupt leader joins the BJP, there will be a probe against them?
Amit Shah: Why do I need to assure? Rahul, you are a journalist, you can go to court and seek a probe against any corrupt politician.
Anchor: I’ll keep my job limited to asking questions. Next question. The political discourse is becoming uglier as the elections come close. In the initial days everyone, including the opposition raises big issues. But when the election date gets closer, the level starts going down. Now people are saying that Modi will be shot, he will be cut into pieces. How do you see this discourse coming from eminent politicians?
Amit Shah: No political party should use such language. But I don’t fully agree with you. A lot of things are discussed, issues are raised, development issues are raised, but you choose to focus on that controversial 1 minute of the entire speech because you get your TRP from this. From my interview, you will not pick out all I said about India’s growth, you’ll pick CAA, 370, ED. It is your job. I don’t have a problem with that but I must tell people to listen to full speeches. Opposition also picks up worthy issues. We don’t always have abusive politics. Though you’re right, that they love Modi ji a bit too much. Whenever the election comes, they abuse Modi ji. But this Modi ji’s crack code since 2001 – the more abuses he gets, the bigger the Lotus blooms. This time too it will happen. No one will die because of someone saying it. Modi ji has the blessings of crores of mothers of the country who have got cash, a home, medicines, and food, he won’t be affected by abuses from a couple of people.
Anchor: Rahul Gandhi has spoken of caste census. What is your take on it? And what’s your opinion on Jitni aabaadi, utna haq?
Amit Shah: Jitni aabaadi, utna haqia what is the crux of the latest census if you notice. However, Rahul Gandhi has no right to raise this because the Kakasaheb Kalelkar Commission which was the first to raise the issue of reservation for backward classes, was kept aside by the Congress for at least 30 years. Then came the Mandal commission, again kept aside by the Congress and when it was implemented, Rahul Gandhi’s father spoke against the reservation for 1.5 hours in the Parliament. For the first time, Narendra Modi gave constitutional rights to OBCs. They make us count OBC secretaries, and join secretaries. They don’t know that those at the top posts in the government are between 55-60 years. When would they have been selected? Modi ji’s Cabinet had 27 OBC ministers. The prime minister himself is OBC. He doesn’t study, he just reads whatever is given to him in writing.
Anchor: He said he will fight a Shakti. Modiji responded by saying it was an insult to woman power. How do you see this?
Amit Shah: He has no knowledge or respect for our traditions. For 10,000 years, matru-shakti has been seen as the biggest shakti in our culture. There is no bigger blessing than that of a mother. There is no bigger love than that of a sister. He has no clue what he’s saying. The matru-shakti of this country is standing strong like a mountain with Modi ji and it doesn’t matter what Rahul ji says. And, from what I’ve gathered from the ground, the women of the country have decided to teach the meaning of Shakti to Rahul Gandhi this election. No one could do this for women, but Narendra Modi ji has respected Shakti by giving 33% reservation to women in Parliament. When this happens in the next Parliament, the world will watch the shakti of India’s matru shakti and how to respect this shakti. Rahul Gandhi cannot understand all these things.
Anchor: One issue that is close to you as well – CAA – today, the court also refused to put a stay on it. What is your take on it? You had approved it way before, why have you notified it so late? Is it due to elections?
Amit Shah: That’s not the case. After CAA was approved, a lot of misinformation circulated in the country, and then Covid came. We are in a democratic country. When misinformation is spread about a sincere issue, the party in power has to put forth the truth in front of the country. The opposition spread lies to increase their vote bank. They spread misinformation that CAA will take away the citizenship of the Muslims of India. CAA is not going to take away anyone’s citizenship. CAA is a law for granting citizenship. Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, and Hindus from three countries have been sitting here for years, without citizenship. They can’t buy any property, they can’t get a government job, how will they live their lives? Congress didn’t have the answers to the difficulties being faced by crores of people. They were busy in their vote bank politics. They spread lies that CAA will take away the citizenship of Indian Muslims. I want to assure people again that the Muslims of this country need not be scared. CAA is not about taking away citizenship but about granting citizenship. The likes of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel had promised at the time of Independence that those coming from Pakistan will get citizenship in India. Congress did not fulfill that promise, we did. It is the implementation of the Nehru-Liaqat pact in a way. But Rahul ji does not know history. He reads from the chit.
Anchor: Kejriwal, Mamata, Rahul, they all say that when there’s a dearth of employment in the country, how will we give employment to these infiltrators?
Amit Shah: They are not infiltrators. There is a difference between infiltrators and refugees. I want to tell Kejriwal, Mamata, Rahul that if you care so much about jobs for the youth of the country, then why don’t you speak against Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingyas? Why do you zip your lips then? Because you can’t hurt your votebank. Refugees come here due to years of harassment. I’ll give you an example, when Taliban took over Afghanistan, numbers of Sikhs came to India with the guru Granth Sahib. Are they infiltrators? Every Sikh has as much right on this country as you and me. It is not right to call them infiltrators. As far as jobs are concerned, they have been living here for years. Kejriwal asks what will we eat, if you have a problem we will give you 5kg ration free as well. Modi ji is giving free ration to all in need. They have been living here, we now have to give them citizenship, respect, make them our own. That’s their right. One should not speak of dividing the nation like this.
Anchor: The US State Department and US Ambassador have also spoken about CAA. Do you want to say anything about that?
Amit Shah: I believe they may not be well informed. India’s foreign department has clarified, but I won’t say much about this. But I will say that it is my country’s right to give citizenship to whoever we want to and no one must interfere.
Anchor: The Chinese military a few days ago said that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of their country. How do you see it?
Amit Shah: They have been saying it since the times of Jawaharlal Nehru. And at that time, they had even captured a big part also. I was not born then in 1962. But under the Modi government, no one can dare to even take an inch of land at any Indian border, this is our promise to the people of Bharat.
Anchor: Amit ji, there’s a question related to CAA and you have also spoken about it. There was a chronology that CAA will be followed by NRC. But there’s no talk of NRC these days. Will it be part of this manifesto or not?
Amit Shah: These are just rumours being spread. NRC is a concept brought at the time of the Congress government when P Chidambaram was home minister. We have just taken it forward. However, there is no NRC provision under the CAA law. Please stop scaring the minorities of the country.
Anchor: But will NRC be part of BJP’s manifesto?
Amit Shah: As of now, there is no draft. Once we have a manifesto draft, we’ll know. I can’t announce anything. As of now, we have brought CAA, which has no NRC at all.
Anchor: In the past five years, there were big decisions – 370, CAA. You have brought the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand. Will this be a big issue over the next five years?
Amit Shah: UCC has not become our issue now. It has been our issue since 1950. My party has campaigned for it. We believe that there should be one common law for everyone in the country. The Uttarakhand government has brought UCC. It will undergo social, legal, all kinds of scrutiny. UCC is a promise from the BJP to the people of the country. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, everyone should follow one common law. There should be no interference in religious freedom but the law should be one. We had accepted UCC in our guiding principles, these were accepted by Ambedkar ji, Nehru ji. They all agreed that the government will bring UCC at an apt time.
Anchor: DMK has said that if their government comes to power, they will repeal all of this.
Amit Shah: How will DMK come to power? There is no question of this.
Anchor: Opposition parties question that Muslims do not have the right to follow Sharia or Hadiz?
Amit Shah: This is again misinformation. The Muslims of this country has not been living as per Sharia and Hadiz since 1937. When the British made Muslim Personal Law, why did they take out the criminal element? Cut the hands of a thief, stone rapists to death on roads, no Muslim can open a Savings account or take a loan. If you want to live by Sharia and Hadiz, then fully live by it. Why do you talk of Sharia and Hadiz to marry four times? This country’s Muslim has been cut off from Sharia and Hadiz since the time of British. And many Islamic countries have also given these up. This is Congress’s appeasement policy, come out of the minorities of the country. Today if there’s a civil suite, it is as per the Constitution of the country. No one goes to the Qazi for that. Does Rahul want to implement all that?
Anchor: Let’s talk about South India, which has been a big focus for Modi Ji. You are also expecting a good performance by the BJP in the South. An eminent Congress leader said that South India should be a separate country. What do you want to say about this?
Amit Shah: Rahul ji should answer this. To date, Congress has not distanced itself from that leader’s statement. The people of the country believe that it is Congress’s policy that the country should be divided. But don’t worry Rahul baba. Now the BJP is so strong that the Congress will not be able to divide this country again. We will never let this country be divided. You are speaking of dividing the nation to win elections, what are you doing? What has happened to this party that fought for the freedom of this country? They are not even distancing themselves from this statement. And you have given him a ticket again? The Congress party should answer for this.
Anchor: Out of 130 seats in the south, how many are you expecting to win? Last time you won 29 seats between Karnataka and Telangana.
Amit Shah: Don’t count north, south, east, west. We will get more than 370 seats, you can count then.
Anchor: In these 370, you have almost all seats in most North Indian states. Where will the additional 70 seats come from?
Amit Shah: When I used to say 300, you asked me the same question in 2019 and I told you I will tell you on the day of counting. This time also, on the day of counting, we will say with a smile on our face that Modi’s promise was fulfilled, BJP has crossed 370.
Anchor: I’m just trying to know where are you expecting more seats from.
Amit Shah: We can gain in Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Punjab.
Anchor: Let’s start from the bottom. Will you open your account in Kerala?
Amit Shah: I’m again telling you not to go into this. You can count 370 on the day of the results. I will come to your show. And this is not BJP’s hard work. The people of this country have showered immense love on Narendra Modi. That will be converted into votes and seats and we will cross 370.
Anchor: Tell us something about Odisha. Are you in alliance or not?
Amit Shah: We are yet to take a decision on that. But, one thing is for sure that we are going to increase our strength on Odisa massively. Our workers welcome the love that the people of Odisha have showered on Modi ji. There will be a big increase in the numbers in both Lok Sabha as well as Assembly and the BJP will get many more seats than predicted by poll pundits.
Anchor: Are you in a state of forming the government in Odisha?
Amit Shah: First let’s see whether we are in an alliance or not. If we go alone, we will fight to form the government.
Anchor: Pandya ji says BJP doesn’t require BJD at the Centre and BJD doesn’t need BJP in state. Would you agree?
Amit Shah: Alliances are not always about needs. We have got a lot of issue-based support from parties whether it was 370 or GST, electoral bond. This is the beauty of democracy that not every issue is opposed. Whatever decision is taken for the benefit of the country, it should be supported irrespective of the party.
Anchor: Two states where the election can get interesting are Bihar and Maharashtra. This time you have given 16 seats to Paltu Ram Ji.
Amit Shah: We didn’t change any stance. We are where we were. Nitish babu came to us. Hum Ganga kinaare the, Ganga kinaare hi rahe.
Anchor: But you gave him 16 seats.
Amit Shah: That is the result of the Bihar unit’s negotiation. This is for the first time that we arefighting more seats than Nitish Kumar. We are the big brother and it’s a big thing for us. I believe that we will register a massive win in Bihar.
Anchor: You gave 5 seats to Chirag Paswa, but dumped Pahupati Paras. Can there be an agreement with him?
Amit Shah: Now, the possibility of any agreement is less. It would have been good for the family to be together, but it’s okay.
Anchor: Will you be the big brother in Vidhan Sabha as well?
Amit Shah: Nothing is final as of now. The focus for now is the Lok Sabha election. We’ll plan for the future after winning this.
Anchor: you’ve taken a lot of smaller parties in Bihar with you and we are seeing the same in Maharashtra. First, you got Shinde, and then Ajit Pawar. Yesterday Raj Thackeray met you. Last time you got 41 seats out of 48.
Amit Shah: We will win more than 41 seats in Maharashtra. And there’s this whole campaign that we broke parties, we didn’t. Uddhav Thackeray’s love for his son broke Shiv Sena. Had he given Eknath Shinde the respect he deserved, Shiv Sena wouldn’t have broken apart. Sharad Pawar’s love for their daughter broke NCP. Had he given Ajit Pawar the respect he deserved, NCP wouldn’t have broken. When you become blinded by your love for your daughter and son, parties break. Don’t blame us for it.
Anchor: How many seats will you fight on?
Amit Shah: This has not been decided yet but we will be the biggest party in Maharashtra.
Anchor: What is happening in Punjab? Has there been any agreement with Akali Dal?
Amit Shah: THere’s negotiation going on. There are offers and counter offers. This keeps going on. The picture will be clear in the next two to three days. We want that all our NDA partners should be with us but the share that BJP deserves and the respect of BJP workers is our priority.
Anchor: In Haryana, can there be an agreement with Dushyant Chautala again?
Amit Shah: They have just separated from us. For now, we will fight against them. We’ll see when the results are out.
Anchor: How are you looking at your position in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana?
Amit Shah: The kind of welcome that Modi ji is getting from the people of South India, is a ray of hope for the BJP. This is the first time that a BJP leader has gotten such an enthusiastic response from the people of the south. I believe that our position will be consolidated even more in all five states of South India. Not just us, but our alliance partners will grow too.
Anchor: Last time, you got 18 seats in West Bengal. After Sandeshkhali, do you think this will grow?
Amit Shah: I will tell you the bottom number. We will win more than 25 seats in West Bengal.
Anchor: How will this happen? How will you manage this number there?
Amit Shah: Since 2017, BJP has grown its alliance as well as seats. In Vidhan Sabha, we grew from 2 to 77. Congress went to zero, Communist party was zero. Today, we are the prime oppsition there. We had 2 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, it grew to 18 in 2019 and this time we will go well above 25. The people of Bengal are questioning Mamata Banerjee on crores of rupees seized in the state. It is Bengal’s people’s money. Modi ji’s yojanas are not reaching the poor people there. They are scared that Modi ji will become popular if that happens. What is the fault of the people of Bengal. Why are they not getting health facilities? Why are their grains being sold in black market? Why has the Nal se Jal Scheme not been implemented in the state? Why are they opposing CAA? All because of votebank politics and corruption. Under a woman chief minister, how are atrocities being done on the women of Sandeshkhali? Shame on them. The attack on ED is a different issue altogether. I’m talking about the women who voted. You took so long in getting your party’s leader arrested despite the atrocities he carried out on those women? I want to request the women of Bengal, this time, let Mamata also know what Shakti is.
Anchor: Modi ji went to Kashmir. After the abrogation of Article 370, he held a public meeting there. Are you expecting to do well in Kashmir?
Amit Shah: BJP opening its account in Kashmir valley or not is the big issue, but three dynast parties – NC, Congress, and PDP – did not let democracy grow in the valley. Since Independence, there have been no Panchayat elections. For the first time, we made Tehsil Panchayat, Zilla Panchayat. I want to tell the Muslim brothers and sisters of the valley that if you want democracy to rise here, clean these three parties. Give your vote to whoever you want to. That’s how democracy will come to Kashmir. After we removed 370, every Kashmiri is now getting Rs 5 lakh worth of health benefits, free ration, and big institutions, more than 2 crore tourists are visiting Kashmir, and theatres have opened in Kashmir after 30 years. After 30 years, Muharram’s procession was taken out. The people of Kashmir should punish those who kept them away from the benefits of the central government.
Anchor: When will elections be held in Kashmir?
Amit Shah: Supreme Court has ordered to hold elections before September. So it will happen.
Anchor: You always said ‘mandir vahiin banaenge’. You fulfilled that, there was Ram Mandir Pran pratishtha. Another slogan is ‘abhi to ye jhanki hai, Kashi Mathura baaki hai’. Will we see this in the next five years?
Amit Shah: All these matters are in court. It’s not right for me to say anything on this. Ram Mandir was our promise. Something that Ram bhakts had been waiting for for 500 years, Modi ji did it in five years. For 10,000 years, not just India, but the world will not be able to forget this visual. This is a huge example of democracy because despite being a Hindu majority nation, we had to wait for the court to give us permission to build the Ram Temple. We waited for that court order and made the temple, there are not many such examples in the world.
Anchor: Will your performance in Uttar Pradesh be better than 2014?
Amit Shah: Definitely, we will witness our best performance to date in Uttar Pradesh and will get more seats than in 2014. ‘
Anchor: Does this mean you can win Raebareli, Kannauj, and Azamgarh?
Amit Shah: Let’s not get into seat names. The people of UP have had enough of dynastic politics and they will teach them a lesson this time.
Anchor: What are the biggest achievements of the Home Ministry in the past 5 years?
Amit Shah: No achievement is big or small. Every achievement has its significance. The smallest of decisions can be big. When 5kg RDX is caught, it’s a very small snippet in newspapers. However, if that 5 kg RDX is not caught, 2,000 people can die in blasts. But I have to say, peace in Kashmir, getting 9000 infiltrators to surrender in the Northeast, almost ending Naxalism, and strong actions against the narcotics trade are some of the achievements that have strengthened the internal security of India. The Home Ministry has taken forward Modi ji’s vision of disaster management. A lot of work has been done. But I just want to say one thing – every ministry has performed the best in these 10 years since 75 years of Independence. The country has completely changed in the past 10 years. India has started getting respect in the world. What India says today matters on the global stage. Anyone with an Indian passport is seen with respect. We have a track record of 10 years and the agenda for the next 25 years. The opposition has none. They neither have a leader, nor a policy. BJP has a concrete plan for Mahan Bharat. Give your blessings to the BJP, and give it enough for us to cross 400.
Anchor: You work day and night. Meetings go on till 4 am. Your wife is here. How do you take time out for home, how do you ensure a work-life balance?
Amit Shah: I am not able to take time out for family. But my family takes time out for me. So my family has a big role to play in maintaining that balance.