Shah attacks Cong for its ‘vote-bank politics’

GANDHINAGAR: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday attacked the Congress and said the party’s vote bank politics was the reason for the inaction of previous governments on Kashmir and blamed the opposition party for stalling the Sardar Sarovar dam project for years.

Shah has addressed over 10 rallies in Gujarat since Sunday to endorse BJP candidates in the assembly elections, scheduled on December 1 and 5, where his party is looking for a seventh straight victory. The results will be declared on December 8.

On Wednesday, Shah was in Surendranagar district’s Dasada town where he attacked the Congress. “Shouldn’t Article 370 be removed from Kashmir?” he asked, referring to the now-nullified provision that bestowed special status on Kashmir.

“For years, the Congress party played on with Article 370, which was dumped on the country by Jawaharlal Nehru. Why did they do so? Due to their votebank politics. You know very well which vote bank I am referring to,” he said. He accused opposition parties of trying to stall the National Democratic Alliance government’s decision to effectively abrogate Article 370 and said the Congress party also insulted BR Ambedkar.

“The five generations of the family, left no stone unturned to insult Babasaheb Ambedkar... they didn’t let him enter Parliament, didn’t give him the Bharat Ratna, they didn’t even built any statue of Babasaheb. Whereas, the BJP government under Narendra Modi etched babasaheb’s name in gold,” he said.

“Apart from that, the BJP declared April 14 as ‘Samrasta Diwas’ and November 26 as ‘Samvidhan Diwas’ in honor of Babasaheb Ambedkar... Through all these, the BJP has etched Babasaheb’s name in history in gold,” he added.

Shah also said the Narendra Modi government banned instant triple talaq to guarantee the rights of Muslim women.

Earlier in the day, Shah criticised activist Medha Patkar joining Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.