Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister and a renominated candidate for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha, started his campaigning for the election on Friday, telling supporters that it is an election about Bharat, not their party. Shah asked Lord Hanuman’s blessings at a temple on Gurukul Road with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in tow, and afterwards they presented flowers to the statue of Subhash Chandra Bose.
During the election campaign, Shah urged his party’s cadres to get in touch with every voter and make sure they hit the “lotus button (on the EVM)”.
Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency includes the temple area where Shah gave his speech. Shah told the crowd about his early days in politics and revealed that, almost thirty years ago, he had started his campaign for the Assembly by praying at the very Hanuman temple.
“Of the 1500-odd parties in India, BJP is the only outfit which will make a small-time party worker like me, who used to distribute leaflets and put curtains for party events, a Union minister and its president. And, this party has made a tea-seller from a poor family the prime minister of this country and a world leader,” he said.
Shah expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President J P Nadda for renominating him for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. This prominent seat had previously been held by veteran party member LK Advani and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
According to PM Modi, in his ten years in office, he has dealt firmly with terrorism, Naxalism, and infiltrators, making the entire nation safe and prosperous.
“When China tried to transgress into Indian territory at Doklam, the entire world was watching anxiously, thinking what would happen next. In the past, such incidents never came to public attention and action was not taken from our side. This time, our PM looked China in the eye and said ‘no entry’. After 45 days, China stepped back,” said Shah.
Making India great is the primary concern of this Lok Sabha election, he stated, and he called on cadres to guarantee victory in more than 400 seats in the next general election. With more than 5 lakh votes, Shah defeated CJ Chavda, the Congress candidate who is currently with the BJP, in the Gandhinagar constituency in 2019. The BJP went on to win all 26 of Gujarat’s Lok Sabha seats in a landslide. The opposition Congress, which has partnered with AAP to share seats, has not yet declared a candidate for the position.