Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagdish Vishwakarma on Thursday, 30 April declared that the Indian public would never forgive the Congress for what he described as attempts to defame the country on the international stage. Addressing two separate party programmes in Banaskantha and Mehsana districts, Vishwakarma framed the BJP's recent local body election victories as a decisive public endorsement of development-oriented governance.

BJP's Banaskantha Victory After 31 Years

At the 'Banas Vijayotsav' programme held at the district BJP office in Banaskantha, Vishwakarma attributed the party's strong performance in local body elections to sustained booth-level mobilisation and voter trust. He specifically highlighted the party's recapture of the District Panchayat after a gap of 31 years.

"At 2025 booths in Banaskantha, BJP workers fought day and night without rest, as a result of which BJP won the District Panchayat after 31 years," he stated. He added that the mandate reflected broad support for the ruling party's development model, noting that in "more than 90 per cent of institutions in the state, the people have given a clear and massive majority to the BJP."

Sharp Attack on Congress Over 'Anti-India' Politics

A central theme of Vishwakarma's address was a pointed attack on the Congress, which he accused of engaging in political activity that he claimed harms India's global reputation. "The public will never forgive Congress for its politics of defaming the country abroad," he said.

He also claimed that voters in Banaskantha had rejected caste-based political narratives, expressing confidence that such electoral trends would persist in future elections. The remarks come amid a broader BJP offensive against the Congress's conduct on international platforms, a line of attack the ruling party has sharpened in recent months.

Cooperative Sector and Gujarat's Development Model

Vishwakarma invoked the contributions of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in shaping Gujarat's political and economic trajectory. He said Prime Minister Modi had given Gujarat "a politics of satisfaction instead of appeasement" and credited Shah's leadership with significantly strengthening the cooperative sector.

He specifically cited the Banaskantha dairy model as a contributor to the national dairy movement, positioning it as an example of governance-driven rural development. Notably, Banaskantha is home to the Banas Dairy, one of India's largest dairy cooperatives, lending local resonance to his remarks.

Mehsana Programme: Victory Belongs to 6.5 Crore Gujaratis

At a separate programme in Mehsana for newly elected public representatives, Vishwakarma reiterated that the electoral mandate was a reflection of public trust in Prime Minister Modi's leadership. "This victory belongs to the 6.5 crore people of Gujarat, this victory is of development, and this victory is of public trust in Prime Minister Modi," he said.

He also pointed to the party's performance across municipal corporations, district panchayats, and taluka panchayats, attributing it to year-round organisational engagement. "Party workers remained engaged with the public throughout the year, not only during elections," he noted. With Gujarat's next state assembly election on the horizon, the BJP's consolidation of local body wins signals an early effort to project organisational dominance ahead of the electoral cycle.