Only a man with 56-inch chest could do this: Shah
POLL PITCH Says Modi nullified Article 370 in one go, something no other PM could
KOLHAPUR :Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for abrogating Article 370, saying the previous governments never had the courage shown by the “man with 56-inch chest” in integrating Jammu and Kashmir with India’s mainstream.
Addressing an election rally in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, he said people should ask Congress and NCP leaders, when they come to seek votes, whether they support the NDA government’s decision to abrogate the provisions that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
He targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar for questioning the government’s move to abrogate Article 370.
“After people of the country and Maharashtra voted him for the second term, Modiji did something for which the entire country was waiting for 70 years...he abrogated Article 370 on August 5 and joined Jammu and Kashmir with the country’s mainstream,” Shah said.
Shah said since the days of Jan Sangh, they have been hearing that there cannot be two prime ministers, there cannot be two symbols and two constitutions, but “it was the Congress which, by imposing Article 370, stopped the process of integrating Jammu and Kashmir with India for several years”.
“As a result, thousands of our people lost their lives due to terrorism, but still there was no intention of any party to remove Article 370,” he said.
“Several governments came and went, several prime ministers came and went, no one had the courage to abrogate Article 370. But, the man with the 56-inch chest scrapped it in one go,” Shah said. During the UPA rule, terrorists from Pakistan used to infiltrate and kill Indian soldiers. “They used to decapitate our soldiers, but the then prime minister ‘Mouni baba’ Manmohan Singh never uttered a word. But after the Uri and Pulwama attacks, Modiji showed the courage of killing terrorists in their den through surgical strike and air strikes,” he said.
He hit out at the opposition over the government’s decision to ban triple talaq. “When we banned triple talaq, they opposed,” he said. Speaking on the devastating floods in Kolhapur and Sangli after rains in August, he assured people that the Centre and the state government will transform both the districts.