Modi government doing fine, says Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah said Friday the Narendra Modi government is doing fine, and that the party would win the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections as well as those in West Bengal scheduled for 2016.

Speaking at Agenda Aaj Tak - 2014 conclave, the Bharatiya Janata Party chief said a majority government was formed at the Centre after a long time and it was going a good job.

Asked why issues like black money and tension on the border and the Line of Control were not being handled by the government in the manner it promised, Shah said the government has not forgotten anything and it was doing its job.

"Government is working on black money issue and going in right direction...SIT was formed and the issue is being taken up at the international level," he said, adding that no other government did so earlier.

Shah said the Modi government was responding to Pakistani aggression well and has suspended talks with the neighbour.

"Congress government never did so," he said.

"The day is not far when we will achieve our goal of Congress Mukt Bharat (Congress-free India)," added Shah.

Shah said the BJP banked on its strength rather than the weakness of its rivals.

Talking about his party's relations with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, he said the BJP did not break the alliance and now the Shiv Sena was very much with them.

"We never broke up with the Shiv Sena. We gave them an offer, but unfortunately they refused," the BJP president said.

He also dismissed rumours that its alliance with long-time partner Akali Dal was in trouble and blamed the media for speculation.

Shah said a "political alliance works out only when both the partners respect and understand each other's strengths."

"I believe the interaction that I have had with Badal sahab (Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal)...All is well between our parties. It is only the media that is making these speculations and it should stop doing this," Shah said.

However, the BJP president was quick to add that in an alliance, the scales do tip in the favour of the party which enjoys greater support of the people.

"These things do happen in an alliance. When the image of a party changes among the voters, the alliance changes too," said Shah.

Expressing confidence that the BJP would register a thumping victory in West Bengal in the assembly elections in 2016, he dismissed allegations by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the BJP is using the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to intimidate her.

"We have never misused the CBI. Congress did it all the time," he alleged.

Touching upon issues of religious conversion and some BJP leaders making controversial statement, Shah said the party has advised them to refrain from such remarks.

The BJP's central minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti had embarrassed the party by using foul language at an election rally in the national capital, while its parliamentarian Sakshi Maharaj Thursday described the killer of Mahatma Gandhi Nathuram Godse as a "patriot".

"If political parties are so concerned about it, then they should come forward to bring in an anti-conversion law," Shah said, adding that there should be no forced conversion in the country.

On allegations that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seems to be involved in "all decisions the BJP makes", he said the party was taking its own decisions.