BJP president Amit Shah tonight took a swipe at Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, saying those who are patriots do not indulge in scams and noted that all the cases being probed by the NDA government were registered when the UPA was in power.
Shah made these remarks in a reference to Gandhi's emotional comments at a recent rally in Kerala in which she had spoken of her commitment to India after being consistently attacked by the BJP over AgustaWestland scam and taunted over her Italian origins.
During an India TV event, he also asserted that the Narendra Modi government will come back to power in 2019 with a bigger mandate than the one given in 2014.
"When we go to the people in 2019, there will be no doubt in anybody's mind about that the 21st century belongs to India," he said.
The promised 'achchhe din' (good days) is here, he said, claiming the government was corruption-free and had launched many pro-poor measures while adding that it will fulfil most of its promises. "Some people sitting in Lutyens Delhi may not find the achchhe din," he said.
Taking a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Shah said he got his photograph clicked with Kalavati, a poor widow in Maharashtra who was visited by him in 2008, but did nothing for women like her but the BJP government uplifted them by giving them free LPG connection and launching many welfare scheme.
To a question about reported insecurity among minorities, he said his government would not do injustice to anybody and protect everyone's constitutional rights.
Responding to Sonia's attack and her emotional remarks, Shah said, "No case in all these scams has been registered in the BJP's time. If the issue was wrong, then they (UPA) should not have registered cases. We are only probing where over 12 lakh crore swindled in these scams went. Whose home did it do?
"Those who are patriots do not indulge in scams. This is what I believe," he said.
He played down controversial remarks of some BJP's leaders and said he has stopped them often and media should not go by what two-three persons out of 11 crore members of the party may say and accept the comments of Prime Minister, Home minister or him in this regard.
He alleged that issues like intolerance and beef controversy were raised due to the elections going on during that time and said the media should enquire as to why these issues died down later.
Modi was the most hard-working and popular leader in the world and he also had the willpower to implement reforms, he said.
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Meanwhile, BSP president Mayawati termed Shah's programme in the state capital as a complete "flop", saying BJP has "wrong intentions" and only wanted to make "political and electoral mileage" out of Azam Khan's statement against Ambedkar.
In a statement issued here, Mayawati said she was the first one to condemn the statement of Khan and had asked him to tender public apology for the same.
Khan's statement was made at the instigation of the UP chief minister, she alleged.
Mayawati said that Shah's claim of his party being pro-Dalit was "wrong" and it was "ignoring" the atrocities on them.
She said that BJP's real face has been exposed in various incidents like the Rohit Vemula and Una cases.
