JOIN USHours after he was declared the prime ministerial candidate of his party, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi returned to his state to receive a regal welcome accorded by his supporters and party members.
Interestingly, as Modi delivered a short vote of thanks to his supporters from the temporary platform erected for the purpose outside the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport in Ahmedabad, he chose to do so in Gujarati instead of Hindi, the language he had preferred to deliver his victory speech in after winning his last assembly election in 2012.
Addressing a large number of workers and senior party leaders, including several of his cabinet colleagues and former BJP vice-president Parshottam Rupala, who flocked to the airport to welcome their leader, Modi thanked the BJP leadership for assigning him the responsibility and informed the party cadre that he had returned with the blessings of the party patriarchs Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani.
“It is now upon us to expand the banyan tree that has been created by Atalji and Advaniji’s hard labour,” said Modi.
In his short speech, he dwelt on the youth and their issues as well as those of women, Dalits and tribals, and said that the BJP carries the mantle of responsibility to redeem them from their current plight.
“People are clamouring for change, and believe that we can bring it about,” said Modi, adding that it would now be on the party workers to work hard to achieve the goal.