BJP not celebrating, only giving report of work to people:Shah

Dismissing Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's criticism that the NDA government was celebrating completion of its two years in office when several states were facing drought, BJP chief Amit Shah today said the party was only giving a report of its work to the people.
"Do you see celebration in this? This is not a celebration. I feel, taking government's work to people through the press, interacting directly with people, giving an account as per its mandate is not celebration," he told reporters here when asked about Gandhi's comments.
Alleging that Gandhi only made media statements and indulged in symbolism, Shah said the NDA government helped improve the lives of the poor.

"Rahul Gandhiji only makes statements. I want to ask him, what happened to that Kalavati at whose house you stayed. We have tried to provide electricity and also gas to her. He just got a photograph taken (with her)," he said.
Kalavati Bandurkar, a Vidarbha farmer widow shot to fame after Rahul Gandhi visited her in 2008 and narrated her plight in Parliament.
Asked about Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's criticism on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign visits, he said Modi made less number of visits abroad in comparison to his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

"I want to make it clear that Prime Minister (Modi) made few visits than Manmohan Singh. But, the problem was nobody came to know in the country or in that country when he (Singh) visited. He used to read two pages of his speech in English. Sometimes even pages changed. He used to read Thailand's (speech) in Malaysia and Malaysia's (speech) in Thailand. Modiji is welcomed wherever he goes...," he said.

Asked whether BJP would reach out to regional parties like TDP and TRS for passing bills in the Rajya Sabha as equations of strength were set to change, he said everybody in Rajya Sabha should support the government's development agenda irrespective of party politics.
"BJP's effort is to see that everybody should support the development agenda in Rajya Sabha irrespective of party politics. It is true that it will benefit us if the strength of our friends increases on every issue of development," Shah said.
Raising questions over the circumstances that led to
Mookerjee's death, Shah said that he was informed that he was allowed to enter J&K without permit and there he was held in custody by the Kashmir police.

The BJP President claimed that Mookerjee was kept in an inadequately equipped safehouse near Srinagar and then not provided medical facilities as he was admitted to a gynecological ward even though he had a heart ailment.
Shah said that history has not done justice to the "patriot" and "eminent educationist" that Mookerjee was.
The BJP President said that if the history of the country was to be written impartially, then an important place will be provided to Mookerjee.
"It is unfortunate that first the British, and later the Leftists distorted the history of the country," Shah said. History has been viewed through the lens of ideology, he said claiming this was one of the reasons, Mookerjee was not conferred his due place in the annals of history.

Shah said it was because of Mookerjee that permits are not needed to enter Kashmir now and the titles Prime Minister and President are not used separately for J&K.
Earlier, Roy who is also a biographer of Mookerjee, narrated his contribution in running an "equitable" government in West Bengal in the pre-independence era and then his protest over special permits to enter Kashmir.
He claimed that Mookerjee was allowed to enter Kashmir where the J&K police were waiting for him. He also raised questions over the improper manner in which a leader of Mookerjee's stature was dealt with.
Roy also claimed that when Nehru had visited J&K, he had not bothered to visit Mookerjee who was languishing in confinement there. He criticised Nehru for deciding not to conduct an inquiry into the death despite a request from Mookerjee's mother.

Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said the lecture was organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad's father Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee.
An exhibition on the Bhartiya Jana Sangh's life has been organised at NMML which will go on till July 6, he added.