NEW DELHI: Strongly endorsing the recent arrests of left-leaning activists on charges of abetting Maoists, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Saturday sought to build a larger campaign narrative against Congress and other opposition parties for supporting "urban Naxals" out of political considerations of vote banks.In his address to the party national executive, Shah posed the political debate over the arrests as a battle between a "nationalist" BJP with programmes for "making India" and parties like Congress intent on "breaking India", suggesting that these will be important themes in the coming round of assembly elections and even the Lok Sabha polls next year.Amit Shah's comments, against the backdrop of protests from Congress and other opponents and a vocal section of intelligentsia as well as some sharp observations by courts, are significant as Shah struck a combative note, praising Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis for the police crackdown on Maoist "sympathisers". "In the context of Naxals, those who have been held, face serious charges like conspiring to purchase arms, helping Naxals, plotting to kill the Prime Minister. But the opposition is shamelessly standing by the side of those working against the nation," Shah told the party meet. The Maharashtra administration should be congratulated for the resolute actions it has taken to protect the nation's security, he said.The unapologetic endorsement of arrests is significant as it squarely takes on criticism that the action against activists is intended to quell dissent against the Modi government and was seen as an indication that BJP might seek to work the theme of the opposition batting for "anti-nationals" in the coming elections and even the Lok Sabha polls.He also took up preparation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, passing of the Citizenship Act and the triple talaq bill as issues which are good for the nation, emphasising that BJP has been raising them for long.BJP chief also trashed opposition unity that Congress and other opposition parties are seeking to forge. "The mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is based on a hoax, illusion and complete falsehoods (dhakosla, bhranti and jhoot)," Sitharaman said quoting Shah."BJP has defeated all these parties in their bastions between 2014 and now" and hence there is no reason for trepidation. "This complete lie that the opposition unity is based on should be revealed to the people" and that is the task that the party's leaders and workers have to get down to, he said. Seeking to rally the spirits of colleagues, the BJP chief also asserted that the party will retain power in 2019 with a bigger margin, besides winning the coming state polls in saffron-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.