JOIN USCredit for Gujarat win goes to our 'commander' Modi: Parshottam Rupala
Parshottam Rupala, union minister of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairies and Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, says that the state has voted the BJP to power in response to the rising popularity of Narendra Modi. Edited excerpts of an interview with Amrita Madhukalya
What worked for the BJP in the state?
In any battle, the credit for a win or a loss goes to the commander. In our case, the commander is Narendra Modi. The credit also goes to the people of Gujarat who have reposed their faith in us time and again. Third and most importantly, we are also grateful to the party karyakarta who has worked day and night to help us retain the state a seventh time.
Would you say that Congress’s tepid campaign in the state, added with the Aam Aadmi Party’s cutting into the Congress’s vote has helped the BJP win a record tally despite 27 years?
The BJP was chosen by the people of Gujarat for a reason – for our developmental agenda. The BJP has not won the elections over the weakness of another party. If you look at the programmes of the party in the state, you will see that people have appreciated us for those. We have managed to win the belief of the people of Gujarat for three decades, and that takes a lot of effort.
There were reports that there was mounting anti-incumbency against your party.
These reports were all lies, and the results show that the idea of anti-incumbency is something that the Opposition parties sought to spread to discredit us. In fact, if you look deeper, the people of Gujarat have a strong affinity with PM Modi – his stature as a world leader is something that every Gujarati is proud of. For example, our economy is the fifth largest at a time when the whole world is struggling in a post-COVID world. At this time, India’s progress has found great resonance within Gujarat.
AAP has finally made an entry into the state. What do you have to say to that?
AAP had made claims that it will form the government in the state, but it has managed to win only seven seats. As far as their plans for the future in Gujarat are concerned, they can tell you better, but as far as the BJP is concerned, AAP is a non-entity.
The BJP lost the elections to the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, after a high octane campaign.
We have to accept the people’s mandate, and as karyakarta of the BJP, this is our duty and we welcome that. But we must also keep in mind that in Gujarat, the BJP has broken a record that we had laid out in the first place.