Cong merely talked of 'garibi hatao', Modi govt transformed lives of tribal, poor people: Shah

BJP president Amit Shah today said the Congress merely talked of "garibi hatao" (remove poverty) during its 60-year rule whereas Prime Minister Narendra Modi took various initiatives to transform the lives of tribal and poor people as he, having lived in poverty, knew what it was to be poor.

Shah said the Congress kept the tribal and poor populations underdeveloped, but the Narendra Modi government gave them priority in development leading to their all-round progress in just four years.

The BJP president, on a one-day visit to Jharkhand to tone up the party organisation ahead of next year's Lok Sabha election, was addressing a function of intellectuals of "Janjatiya Samaj" (tribal society).

The Congress had been talking of 'garibi hatao' but it is Modi who took pro-poor initiatives to transform the lives of the tribal and poor populace, Shah said.

"How life is without electricity? What happens to the poor when he or his family is struck by any disease? And this is the reason his government is administering the country on the philosophy of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' (collective efforts, inclusive growth)," he said.

Accusing the opposition of "misleading" the people against the Centre and the BJP-ruled state governments, Shah claimed, "What the four-year-old Narendra Modi government did, the Congress failed to do in 60 years of its rule."