Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party changes criminals for good. “[The] BJP always faces criticism for admitting criminals into the party. If criminals enter the party, we lessen their faults and increase their merits,” he said, according to The Indian Express.

Gadkari was addressing a two-day state executive meeting of the party at Pimpri-Chinchwad when he made the comments. He also cited the example of a robber who is now known as a protector of women after he joined the saffron outfit in Nagpur. “He was a robber and now helps women reach home safely late at night,’’ said the minister.

His comments come as the party’s membership has recently been on the rise. The minister said the party ought to eye Congress and Nationalist Congress Party members. “The BJP’s vote share will increase only when the vote share of the Congress and the NCP comes down. Competent people will always rise in the party,” he said. He also claimed the party’s senior leaders induce change in such people and make them virtuous, reported DNA.

At the party meet, Gadkari also blamed the Congress and NCP for farmers’ suicides. He said that the agricultural growth rate was negative during the previous government’s regime. He alleged that the previous Congress-NCP government had created “dead assets” by building dams without canals. “By constructing these dams, they created dead assets worth Rs 80,000 crore… these not benefiting farmers. So, you [the Congress and the NCP] should answer why farmers did not get water from these dams,” he said, according to PTI.

The Union minister urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take all necessary steps so that the agricultural growth rate surpasses 20%. The minister claimed that under the BJP government in Maharashtra, the trajectory of agricultural growth has already touched 12.5%. He also said that farmer suicides will continue unless there is 50% irrigation in the state.