'STRONG MODI WAVE IN COUNTRY.NDA ALL SET TO CROSS 400 MARK'

UNION Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also the BJP’s principal strategist, asserts that the NDA will reach its target of a bumper majority and form the next government at the Centre.

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He alleges the Congress wants to snatch away the reservation given to SCs, STs and OBCs and give it away to the Muslim community—without conducting any survey—citing Karnataka and Telangana as examples of its “appeasement” politics. On the other hand, he claims, “the BJP has never ever wanted to amend Constitution for altering reservation provisions.” In the midst of hectic campaigning, Shah gave an in-depth interview to

TNIE Editor SANTWANA BHATTACHARYA  and Senior Assistant Editor RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR.

To buttress his point, he points out that the BJP/NDA has had the strength in Parliament to amend the Constitution for the past 10 years. “We never did, as that was never our intention. What we believe in, we always put out in our ‘sankalp patra’—like Article 370, Ram Mandir or UCC. We don’t work surreptitiously.”

Excerpts: Three phases of elections are over, four more to go. What’s your view on the low turnout—heat or apathy? The Congress cites it to say it’s already winning. You say the NDA has already touched 190. What do you really feel? Is “400 paar” really possible?