HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. HOME MINISTER!

In a nation as diverse, vibrant and populous as India, where religions abound and faiths are plenty, politicians and self-proclaimed leaders are dime a dozen. And in the race to reach the top, every single one of these ‘leaders’ is trying to get a hold of everything they can get their hands on. However, there are times when the natural flow of life brings out a leader who brings goes beyond the mere ‘trivial politics’ and not just honours a constitutional position, but going beyond, changes the very ‘political fabric’ and thus the destiny of politics in a state or nation. And one such leader was born 58 years ago, who, for the past 3-4 years, has been carrying on the legacy of the ‘Iron man of India’ — Sardar Patel, in the truest sense of the word. Born on October 22, 1964, Amit Anil Chandra Shah is the second leader in the nation, who has the power and the ability to shape politics and narrative in the land; the other being his mentor Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Starting as ABVP worker, Shah climbed the political ladder, plainly due to his ability to strategise and execute the said strategy to perfection. As a result, he has never ever lost an election, even in the lower strata of politics.

During his college days, Shah was a member of the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS. At the age of 18, he secured a position in the ABVP and joined the BJP in 1987. Shah was first elected in Gujarat as the MLA for a seat partly covering Ahmedabad, Sarkhej in 1997 (a by-election). He continued to hold it in the 1998, 2002 and 2007 elections until the seat’s dissolution in 2008; he then got elected from the nearby Naranpura in 2012. As a close associate of then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, he held executive portfolios in the Gujarat state government. Shah was the BJP’s in-charge for India’s largest and politically most crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and ensured that the BJP and its NDA won 73 out of 80 seats. As a result, Shah rose to national prominence and was appointed as the party’s national president in July 2014. Sworn in at the age of 54, he is the youngest serving fulltime Home Minister. He is the chief strategist of the BJP, currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. But perhaps Shah’s biggest ‘wonder’ was his ‘surgical strike’ on Opposition parties and the swift manner in which he worked towards the abrogation of Article 370 from the Indian Constitution, a long standing promise of the BJP, which literally brought Kashmir into the Indian mainstream. The manner in which he accomplished the ‘unimaginable’, is sometimes linked to the ‘Shock and Awe’ strategy that most modern day militaries undertake to secure a win. To the modern ‘Chanakya’ and the ‘true heir’ of Patel’s legacy, First India wishes Amit Shah a very happy birthday. May you keep ‘looking after’ India towards our collective goal of ‘Ache Din’!