Modi made people believe in country's democratic system: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said here on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the poor people repose their faith in the country's democratic system.

Shah, who inaugurated several projects here, also attributed the BJP-led NDA's return to power at the Centre to Modi's hard work right from the time he became the Gujarat chief minister.

Modi helped people trust the multi-party democratic system when they were losing faith in it under the then Congress-led governments, he said.

"Narendrabhai became prime minister twice and this is a matter of pride for Gujarat. But this is the result of his continuous hard work from 2001 till his government (at the Centre) was sworn-in for the second time," Shah said addressing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters at a function of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

He recalled Modi's address to party workers when he was the chief minister.

"Narendrabhai would say (to party workers) people have lost faith in the multi-party democratic system. People did not believe that the multi-party democratic system can do them any good, that they would get electricity, toilet, health facilities...a majority of people did not see this coming.

"Modi had then said only developing Gujarat was not enough but we will have to restore people's trust in democracy (starting) from Gujarat," Shah said.

Modi's tenure as chief minister raised the aspirations of "the poor people of Odisha, Bihar, (West) Bengal" as "there was a ray of hope in their hearts that if the poor in Gujarat can be uplifted, then why not them", he added.

Modi proved the political pundits wrong by returning to power with a thumping majority due to his performance and policies, the Union home minister said.

"As a result, 50 crore poor people reposed their faith in democracy," he added.

Through air and surgical strikes (against terrorist camps) inside Pakistan, the Modi government sent out a message that though peace was our priority being the country of Mahatma Gandhi, no one could trifle with our borders, Shah said.

"For the first time, political analysts used a new term. They had used the term anti-incumbency...but Modi showed them what pro-incumbency is," he said, talking about the NDA's massive victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

A new India would emerge under Modi's leadership, where the poor would have access to electricity, toilets, healthcare, where the borders would be safe, the country would be free of terrorists and rank among the top three nations of the world, Shah said.