Only BJP has a future in Kerala: Amit Shah

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 03: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday slammed the Congress and Communist parties for treating Scheduled Tribes and Dalits as a vote bank while claiming that only the BJP has a future in Kerala.

Speaking at a Scheduled Caste conference organised by the saffron party, the BJP leader said, "Congress is disappearing from India while the Communist party is on the verge of extinction from the world. In Kerala, only the BJP has a future. The Congress party and the Communists never worked for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes. They treated them as mere votebanks," Shah said.

Shah also targeted Congress and communist parties saying they never worked for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes and treated the Dalit communities only as a votebank.

He asked whether the Congress party ever had a single Minister from the SC/ST community. He said when BJP had majority in Parliament to elect the Rashtrapathi, they selected a person from the Dalit community - Ram Nath Kovind. "On our second chance, we selected an ST community leader Draupadi Murmu," he said.

"This is because Prime Minister believes that the development of the country is possible only through the development of the SC/ST communities. The Congress and the Communist parties did nothing for the Dalit communities despite being in power for so long," he added.

Shah challenged the Congress and the Communist parties to come forward and explain what they have done for the downtrodden communities so far. He listed out the projects and policies of the Modi government for the Dalits and the SC/ST communities.

"Ambedkar did not get Bharat Ratna until the Congress was in power. When they were voted out, Ambedkar was awarded Bharat Ratna," Shah said.