Lok Sabha elections should be fought on the basis of nationalism: Amit Shah at News18's Agenda India forum

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday spoke on several issues at News18’s Agenda India forum ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. “The elections should be fought on the basis of nationalism,” said Amit Shah. “What is wrong with politics of nationalism?” he added. The BJP chief was in conversation with Network 18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi. Shah also said that vote bank politics was on the decline now. “The days of vote banks being owned by a person are over. Now, the voter is the boss of his own vote,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_5843351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP president Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] Shah also spoke on terrorism and said that the central government had done a lot to curb terrorism in Kashmir. “Whoever messes with our security forces will not be spared. We have banned organisations and plugged terror funding,” he told News18. “It is under our government that we have neutralised the maximum number of terrorists and we will continue to do this,” he said. On the issue of Balakot air strikes, Shah said, “I quoted the Balakot figures from what I saw on our media channels, I did not watch or refer to foreign media reports.” Shah also said that the amount of black money in the economy had gone down. " Amount of black money has gone down, there are people in England who are feeling uncomfortable because of the actions we took," he said. The BJP president lashed out at Congress’ promise of minimum income. “Why didn’t Congress bring NYAY in its ten years of rule?” he said. He also said Priyanka Gandhi becoming politically active in Uttar Pradesh was nothing new. “For 12 years, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been in politics. Her so-called entry into politics is nothing new,” he said. “Amethi is going to be tough for Rahul Gandhi now. Smritiji has gone to Amethi more often in the last five years than Rahul Gandhi,” he added. Shah said he was confident that the Modi wave was still intact. “In by-elections, people choose MPs, not the prime minister. But in the general elections, people choose a prime minister. The Opposition has not even been able to come up with a prime ministerial candidate till now,” he said. On the issue of Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, Shah said, “The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance is not based on greed. It is based on common ideologies. BJP and Shiv Sena are natural allies.”