Maharashtra poll victory has ended Pawar’s ‘politics of deceit’, says Amit Shah
Amit Shah hailed BJP's Maharashtra assembly victory as a response to deceitful politics, asserting it will shape national politics for years to come
SHIRDI: Union home minister Amit Shah said the BJP’s unprecedented victory in the recent assembly elections in Maharashtra will not only be remembered for the next 25 years, it has also given a fitting reply to the “deceitful politics” of Sharad Pawar started in 1978 and carried forward by Uddhav Thackeray in 2019. Shah made these remarks at the concluding session of the BJP’s two-day convention in Shirdi. He added that the BJP should be made so “unconquerable” that “nobody should dare to use deceit to defeat it in future”.

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“The electoral victory (in Maharashtra) has buried the politics of betrayal started by Sharad Pawar in 1978 and carried forward by Uddhav Thackeray in 2019. Thackeray parted ways with the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray and became chief minister with the help of deceit and falsehood. The people of Maharashtra have shown Thackeray his place and put an end to the politics of uncertainty that prevailed from 1978 to 2024,” Shah said.
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The Union minister said the BJP’s landslide victory in the November 20 assembly election also “brought national politics back on track”. He was referring to the massive boost the BJP-led Narendra Modi government has received from its victory in Maharashtra, in light of the party’s dependence on other NDA constituents.
“I had said while addressing party workers at our last convention (in Balewadi, Pune last year) that some elections leave an imprint at the state level, while others make an imprint at the national level. Maharashtra’s Mahavijay (grand victory) will be remembered in the country’s political history for the next 25 years.
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Shah said the victory proved the people’s faith in “principled politics” and prime minister Modi’s agenda for development. “The people of Maharashtra also reinforced that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is the real Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray, and the NCP under Ajit Pawar is the real party (NCP). Maharashtra’s voters made Sharad Pawar, who started the politics of deceit and betrayal, and Uddhav Thackeray, who played into the politics of betrayal, sit at home. The people of Maharashtra have proved once again that they believe in the prime minister’s politics of development, and in Hindutva and Sanatan Dharma.”
He said Sharad Pawar could boast as much as he pleased about his region-wise strength in parts of Maharashtra, “but now I can tell him about the BJP’s strength in the state”, Shah remarked. “I can show Pawar our strength in Maharashtra as the BJP has won 21 of the 22 seats fought in North Maharashtra, 16 of 17 in the Konkan, 24 of 26 in Western Maharashtra, 19 of 20 in Marathwada, 37 of 46 in Vidarbha and 16 of the 17 we fought in Mumbai.” He also attacked Pawar for his failure to make Maharashtra a drought- and suicide-free state despite being chief minister and Union agriculture minister.
Shah said 2024 had been a historical year for the BJP as it had given a third term to Narendra Modi as prime minister; the party had won a third term in Haryana and Odisha; the NDA was elected to power for a third time in Sikkim and Maharashtra; and it was the first time the NDA had formed a government in Andhra Pradesh.
The INDIA bloc is on the brink of splitting, claimed Shah. “The Sena (UBT) has started talking of parting ways for the BMC elections; the AAP and Congress are not together in Delhi; Trinmool Congress can’t stand with the Congress in West Bengal; and Lalu Prasad Yadav has started bickering in Bihar. Maharashtra’s victory has diminished the confidence of the opposition alliance,” said the Union minister.
Naxal-free India
Shah also said the Modi government would make India Naxal-free by March 31, 2026. “We made lots of promises in the last ten years and kept them all. We abrogated Article 370 in Kashmir, built the Ram Temple, and brought Lord Ram back after 550 years. Terrorism was ended in the country, and now I am announcing that the country will be made Naxal-free by March 31, 2026,” he said.

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