Don’t seek to control Waqf boards, only ensure they follow rules: Nadda

“All this property, power and money will be spent on the education, health and employment of our Muslim brothers,” Nadda said. “We have been moving forward in ideological terms.”

The BJP president said former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi “bent over backwards for Muslim appeasement” to reverse the landmark Shah Bano verdict (in 1985) of the Supreme Court. “Despite the SC calling for the emancipation of Muslim women, no one had the courage to take decisive action… It was the BJP under the leadership of respected Narendra Modi-ji that has freed lakhs of sisters from it.”

Referring to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, Nadda said the Nehru-Liaquat Pact (of 1950) was inked to protect minorities in India and Pakistan after Partition. But the Hindu population there, which was about 22 per cent, came down to 1.6 per cent. “Where have they gone?” “Those who came to India facing religious persecution were given the chance to become Indian citizens by our government.” “We said we will come out of the colonial mindset. Rajpath is now Kartavya Path. A statue of Subhash Chandra Bose was also installed (near India Gate). We also scrapped Article 370,” he said.

Nadda said the BJP has always kept the nation first and made efforts to promote India’s traditions, culture and history. He said the BJP after the end of the recent membership drive had 13.5 crore members across the country. Talking about the BJP’s electoral success in Parliament and various state polls in recent years, he said expanding the organisation and winning elections without diluting ideology was also a “science”.

Nadda advised party workers to read about Syama Prasad Mookerjee and other leaders of the Jana Sangh and the BJP, and work to build a developed India by 2047. From April 14 to 25, he said, the party would focus on ‘Samvidhan Gaurav Diwas’ to celebrate the Constitution. “We have to expose how the Congress tried to destroy the Constitution.”

The BJP Foundation Day was celebrated across several states, including Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.