Hate speeches 'like Goli Maaro' shouldn't have been made: Amit Shah on Delhi polls defeat

Speaking at the Times Now Summit 2020, Shah accepted his party's decimation at the hands of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recently concluded Delhi elections, and said: "This is not our first defeat, I have always worked hard for every election, winning and losing are part of it."

"We don't simply fight elections for the results. We fight based on the ideology of the party," he added.

On being asked whether his assessment of getting a majority in the Delhi elections proved wrong, Shah said: "Very humbly, I accept the defeat in the Delhi elections. We will work as an effective opposition party and act as a watchdog on the Delhi government."

Shah also admitted that his assessment in the elections went wrong.

"I firmly believed our party would have won with the majority. I was wrong and don't mind accepting it... Most times I have been correct, this time I wasn't," he added.

The Union Minister also admitted that some hate speech made by certain sections of the party were wrong and could have proven costly for them.

"No one ever said that bahu betiyon ka balatkar karenge (wives and daughters will be raped). But the rest of them like -- goli maaro, Indo-Pak match --should not have been made. The party distanced itself immediately," he said.

"May be we had to pay for such statements in the election," said he.

In a landslide victory, the AAP won 62 of 70 in the assembly polls, decimating the challenger Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which could win only eight seats.

The Congress, in the face of the AAP's spectacular performance, drew a blank replicating its 2015 assembly poll results.