By IANS
New Delhi : When politicians fail to deliver, they resort to vote-bank politics by appeasing a section of the society, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said Friday.
“When the politicians fail to perform, when they fail to deliver to the common man, then they resort to making one section of the society happy. This is vote bank politics,” Modi said at the India Today conclave.
Modi completely over-shadowed former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, the other two speakers at the conclave.
“The Sachar Committee (on the socio economic condition of minorities) visited me in Gujarat and asked what I had done for Muslims. I said I have done nothing. But I also told them that I have done nothing for the Hindus either. My responsibility is to the 5.5 million Gujaratis, not to any religion,” Modi said, inviting a big round of applause from the gathering that consisted of VIPs from all walks of life.
The Gujarat chief minister also stated that education for the girl child, supply of power to villages and removal of 200,000 encroachments were some of his achievements that had won him the hearts of people of Gujarat.
Modi emphasised that it was allround development of the state that had led to his victory in the last assembly elections, held in December 2007. Modi had proved all the poll-pundits wrong by riding to victory on a wave of Hindutva and development.
Casting aspersions on the secular credentials of the Congress party, Modi said when it was in power in 1980s it had overturned the Shah Bano judgement of the Supreme Court by making a legislation that was anti-women.
Modi said the security of the country was being compromised in the name of vote-bank politics, which is “a reiteration of the Bharatiya Janata Party stand that the Congress is soft on terrorism as it wants to appease the Muslims”.
Abdullah gave a passionate speech, in which he said that politicians “did indulge in vote-bank politics”. “We put up candidates taking winnability into consideration. If a person is likely to win, we put him up,” he said, adding that religion or caste of the candidate also came into consideration.
Digvijay Singh spoke about inclusive growth and said as long as we differentiate between masses to win votes, there will be vote-bank politics. He confessed that development is also an issue, alluding perhaps to one of the main reasons for Modi’s victory.