Gandhinagar, 25 February 2014

Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi today welcomed merger of Gujarat Parivartan Party(GPP) with BJP. He welcomed Gordhan Zadafia’s return to BJP. Some glimpses of his insightful Gujarati speech on this occasion(near perfect translation done by DeshGujarat):

-Many of you(the GPP people who are joining BJP today) could be feeling that we relied on Gordhanbhai and left(the BJP), and now Gordhanbhai has brought us (back) here(in BJP), shall they(the BJP people) leave us(forgive us)? But friends, while you could be feeling you left the BJP, I myself never felt like that(for you). There was not even one single visit to Surat when I didn’t remember Fakirbhai(GPP leader). And I am sure, you were feeling sad after leaving BJP. You were feeling sad when anything bad happened to BJP. What lies inside does not change, and that is our strength. And therefore the time you spent outside the party should be treated like a family taking dinner outside occasionally. Today’s (rejoining) occasion should be taken very lightly and naturally. It’s our family. We all left our homes for some ideals. We were shouting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Ja’ with same spirit even when no one was noticing us or recognizing us. We are able to hire such auditorium on rent today. But what was out situation in past?

-This Gordhanlal has enjoyed ride on my scooter for number of times. He was in Vishwa Hindu Parishad those days. And I remember my scooter’s number was 5820.

-There’s a rule in the politics, and it is useful for any political party. One has to keep this (golden)rule in mind. There’s no full-stop in politics…. never. And therefore (you should) never think, ‘if not this then what?’ P.V.Narsimharao didn’t contest elections. He was packing his bags to return to home. And he had to took u-turn to take oath as Prime Minister. There’s no full stop in politics, and therefore one has to be active with all energy and joy in politics.

-Connection with people is the most important thing(in politics). More your activities are pro-people, with people and for people, more healthy will your public life become. And (that’s precisely) we have seen in Gujarat – continuous pro-public activities.

-I have learnt from my experience that the biggest strength in politics is patience. (Believe me)there’s no bigger strength than this. One who has patience can’t be defeated either from the inside or from outside. We need to do our work with joy and with great patience.

-The Lok Sabha elections are near. I have been active doing organizational activities across the nation. Perhaps there are very few politicians who have taken night-halt at more than 400 districts in the country. I have been fortunate to have night-halt at more than 400 districts. On the basis of this wide experience, I am able to say, the elections this time are amazing! It is incomparable with any other election in past.

-Imagine, a weak and very ill person who is limited to bed for last one month, who can’t walk without someone’s help. But if some tragedy strikes, he would get up and run to save his life. This election(2014 Lok Sabha general elections) is like that. Just calculating(typically) that earlier you(BJP) had 2 seats, and then you had 89 and then 116 etc will not work this time.(The situation at present is) the nation is sinking and people are running. This election is not about arithmetic, it is about chemistry. It’s a novel combination this time.