BJP will pick up OBC, EBC issues better because PM is from that class, says Amit Shah

To a query whether campaigning has been reduced to a prime minister versus a chief minister, Shah said: 'That impression has been created by the media.'

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BJP president Amit Shah.

Hours before campaigning for the third phase of the assembly elections in Bihar drew to a close Monday, BJP president Amit Shah exuded confidence saying his party’s election plank of vikas has percolated to voters on the ground and the “BJP will be able to pick up issues of OBC and EBC much better because our PM belongs to that class”.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Shah said: “As far as the issue of PM’s identity of being a ‘pichchada’ (backward) is concerned, it is a reality of life. In Bihar, our election issue is that BJP will be able to pick up issues of OBC and EBC much better because our PM belongs to that class. It is not casteism. We have not made an issue of PM’s caste. ‘Pichchada varg’ is a block recognised under our Constitution after the amendment. Backward classes is not a jaati (caste). You should understand the difference between the two. Backward class is defined under the Constitution.”

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To a query whether campaigning has been reduced to a prime minister versus a chief minister, Shah said: “That impression has been created by the media. In any election, the Prime Minister has the right to campaign. He is the supreme leader of our party. I am of the firm opinion that the party’s supreme leader should himself put forward the party’s views and principles before the people. I don’t see anything gadbad (wrong) or a better way to say it… when the janata (people) is in the process of taking a decision on who to vote for, it is very necessary in a democracy that the party’s top leader and prime minister directly talks to the people and presents his party’s views.”

On the Dadri lynching incident over beef rumours and the fallout of Minister of State Gen (retd) V K Singh’s ‘dog’ remark following the killing of two Dalit children in Faridabad, the BJP president said: “I have condemned the Dadri incident and I believe such a thing should never happen. I think 100 per cent responsibility for it is with the SP government.”

“His (V K Singh’s) statement has been misinterpreted. In spite of that, whatever the misinterpretation, he has apologised for it. His apology is without condition… Where did Dadri happen? In Uttar Pradesh. Who is responsible for its law and order? Samajwadi Party… The unrest in UP is due to the government there which is doing votebank politics with the help of police.”

On the return of awards by leading writers in protest against what they call growing acts of intolerance, Shah said: “I believe writers should not indulge in politics. Why did they not resign when the Bhagalpur massacre took place? Why didn’t they resign en masse when so many Sikhs were killed? When the country’s PM (Rajiv Gandhi) said that the ground shakes when a giant tree falls (the assassination of Indira Gandhi), why did nobody protest and resign? Why didn’t their souls stir then? When so many bomb blasts occurred in Maharashtra, why did nobody resign? When so many Kashmiri Pundits were thrown out, why didn’t anybody get upset? What kind of one-sided soul is this which awakens selectively?”

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