India underwent massive change under Modi's leadership, poor realised their existence: Amit Shah

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], August 27 : Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a seminar on the book Modi@20, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that it was for the first time after Independence that the poor have felt their "existence" in the country.
"People have told me that after Narendra Modi became PM, a massive change is seen in the country. There can be many reasons but crores of poor felt this for the first time after independence that they have an existence in this nation," Amit Shah said in his address in Raipur.
At the launch of the book: 'Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery' in Odisha's Bhubaneshwar, Shah on August 8 said, "Modi@20 means whatever Modi Ji did to strengthen the democracy of this country for 20 years, from the time Modi ji became the Chief Minister of Gujarat (to the present)."
"As soon as Modi ji took over as the Prime Minister of the country, he worked to find solutions to country's problems and successfully established the country's pride in the whole world, that saga is Modi @ 20," Shah added.
It may be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed 20 years in 2021 as the head of government from becoming Chief Minister to Prime Minister of India. First, he became Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001 and remained in that post till he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014 and was re-elected in 2019.
Published by Rupa Publications India, the book is written by eminent intellectuals and writers like Nandan Nilekani, Sudha Murty, Sadguru, P.V. Sindhu and Amish Tripathi among others, the statement added.
The book is an anthology of chapters written by eminent writers elaborating and depicting the fundamental transformation that the country has gone through under the leadership of Narendra Modi as the head of the government in the last 20 years.
The book also elaborates on Modi's model of governance which has touched the lives of a cross-section of the people of the society.
While addressing a gathering earlier in the day at another event of the inauguration of the NIA office in Raipur, Shah said that the Centre has "left no stone unturned" in strengthening the anti-terror probe agency, while also reaffirming the government's "zero-tolerance policy" towards terrorism and left-wing extremism.
He further emphasized that the laws that are against the activities that support terrorism have to be strengthened, and the target to achieve a 100 per cent conviction rate has to be set.
The Home Minister lauded the NIA for establishing itself as a "prime anti-terror agency" in the world, while also setting a target of achieving a 100 per cent conviction rate, which currently stands at 94.23 per cent.
Shah mentioned the government's efforts to strengthen the NIA and said that as part of it, it has shared "terrorism-related information" to the states "irrespective of the political party" in power.
Further stating that peace can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, Shah highlighted the crackdown on terror funding in the valley, adding that the NIA has come down heavily on those involved in the activity.
"We have tried to free Kashmir from terrorism completely after the formation of our government at the Centre. Peace is seen in the region after the abrogation of Article 370. We can see the absolute power of our agencies in controlling terror activities today," he said.
"An important reason behind this is that the NIA acted severely against those involved in terror funding in 2018, 2019 and 2020. 105 such cases were registered and 876 accused have been arrested," Shah added while also mentioning that the charge sheet has been filed in 94 out of the 105 cases registered.
Praising the probe agency for establishing a "benchmark" in a short period of time, the Home Minister said that it has become a prime anti-terror investigation agency in the world.
On the occasion, the Home Minister detailed the branches of the NIA opened in various states of the country and said that the government aims at opening its branch in every state before the commencement of the next General elections in 2024.