AHMEDABAD: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday charged that the Congress “oppressed and degraded” the Other Backward Classes when it was in power at the Centre and asserted that it was the BJP that gave the first OBC prime minister to the country Narendra Modi.
Shah was speaking at the national convention of the Modi community on Sunday in Ahmedabad. Addressing a gathering at the Modi Samaj national convention in Ahmedabad, Shah said, “Congress has always neglected the OBC community. It is the BJP that is working for them. Congress ruled the country for 56 years but did not develop them (OBC community), but PM Modi has worked for them in the last nine years. The PM comes from a poor family so he understands the pain of the poor.”
“In the BJP administration, the OBC community has been respected. The party gave the constitutional status to the OBC commission and for the first time, 27 ministers from the OBC community were represented in the Union cabinet,” Shah added.
He referred to Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 criminal defamation conviction for his ‘Modi surname’ remark. “If someone insults a person, it is not a big deal, but if someone insults an entire community and the country’s PM, then it is an insult to the entire country. Purneshbhai fought this battle and won it. I congratulate him and others for fighting a battle for the dignity of your community,” said Shah.
Talking about PM Modi’s work, Shah said: “As a young worker, Modi strengthened the organization by traveling from villages. It was on this basis that he became the CM. He is now the Prime Minister of the country and is aiming to raise the country’s pride throughout the world.”
He told the audience that for the first time, a person from a poor family has become the Prime Minister.
He listed the welfare works done under the PM’s stewardship. “Modi provided free gas cylinders to about 13 crore people, toilets to 10 crore people, housing to 3 crore people, and health care facilities for the people. Besides, for 2.5 years, the PM has arranged 5kg food grain delivery to 80 crore people,” said Shah.
He said the country should be proud that the Prime Minister belongs to the Modi community.
“It is a matter of great happiness and pride for every Indian as even US President Joe Biden asked Modiji for his autograph, saying he is very popular in the US,” Shah said. The Home Minister offered prayers at the Parmeshwar temple and flagged off 320 new buses of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC). He also inaugurated Amul’s state-of-the-art biological testing laboratory in Ahmedabad.