Shah slams Cong over remark on Gen Rawat
DEHRADUN: Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s recent remarks on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders evoking Article 370 during poll rallies, and charged the opposition party with using derogatory remarks against India’s first chief of defence staff (CDS) late General Bipin Rawat.
Addressing a poll rally at Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal district, Shah said, “Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge says what people of Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have to do with Kashmir. Khargeji, you don’t know...if anybody has shed the most blood for Kashmir, it is the jawans of Garhwal and Pauri.”
He added: “It is their party’s cultural grooming that they called brave Bipin Rawat ‘sadak ka gunda’ (roadside goon).”
Attacking the Congress, Shah said the opposition party had preserved Article 370 for 70 years, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi “abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019 to make Kashmir an integral part of country.”
Highlighting the immense contribution of Uttarakhand in the armed forces, he said, “Every 14th person in our Army serving the country is from this state.”
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit had made the controversial statement on then army chief General Bipin Rawat in 2017, after the latter said the army was well prepared to face external as well as internal threats of the country.
Shah said then PM Indira Gandhi had promised implementation of ‘one rank one pension’ (OROP) but they didn’t fulfil it in the last 40 years. “In 2014, you gave all five seats to Modi to make him PM. He completed the promise of OROP. Modi did the work of sending ₹70,000 crore into the bank accounts of families of jawans,” he said.
Speaking on the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Shah said, “After 500 years, Ram Lalla will celebrate his birthday not in a tent, but in a grand temple. It is a matter of joy and fortune that we witnessed Ram Lalla’s consecration in our lifetime. Congress party and its ilk delayed the Ram Janmabhoomi matter for 70 years. In just five years, PM Modi came with a decision and did ‘pujan’ and pran pratishtha (consecration). On Ram Navami, when Ram Lalla will celebrate his birthday in his grand house, the whole country will be in tears.”
He also alleged that people of Uttarakhand should not forget who opposed the formation of the state and who did firing at Rampur Tiraha in Uttar Pradesh. “Previous Prime Minister Atal ji (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) made Uttarakhand and now PM Modi is making it prosper. PM Modi has said the third decade will be of Uttarakhand, CM Dhami is prepared to make it a reality.”
He also alleged that the Congress was spreading lies that BJP upon winning 400 seats will end reservation.
He said, “Congress is saying if BJP gets 400 seats then it will put an end to reservation. Khargeji, why are you lying. We have had a complete majority from the last 10 years. Narendra Modi is the biggest supporter of reservation. BJP will ensure that the reservation of tribal, Dalit and OBCs remain, we will neither end nor allow anybody. I want to give an answer to Kharge ji on why we need 400 seats. We were given 300 seats, we abrogated Article 370, triple talaq, implemented UCC. That’s why we need 400 seats.”
He congratulated chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for bringing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for making Uttarakhand first in the country to do so and said, “It was part of the election manifesto since the foundation of Jan Sangh. On these lines, PM Modi has included the implementation of UCC in the whole country in our sankalp patra.”
“Every vote given to the symbol of lotus will make Modi the Prime Minister for the third time. This will result in making India a developed country, which is only possible when there is developed Uttarakhand...making Modi PM for third time means making India the third largest economy .... it means making three crore ‘lakhpati didi’,” he said.
The home minister attacked Congress and said when their leaders were ministers during the Congress-led central government they released only ₹53,000 crore to Uttarakhand. “Meanwhile, PM Modi gave ₹1.66 lakh crore in the last 10 years, which is three times the amount directly sent as a grant. Along with this, he sent ₹82,000 crore for infrastructure, ₹31,000 for roads, ₹50,000 crore for railways and ₹100 crore for airports.” He emphasised that to stop migration from Uttarakhand,
tourism needs to be promoted. “During Congress regimes, ‘dolis’ (palanquins) were there. There was no facility. By spending ₹12,000 crore, PM Modi built a 900 crore-long Char Dham road to promote tourism. He built the Delhi-Dehradun economic corridor worth ₹8,000 crore. Recently, he along with CM Dhami inaugurated 30 state roads built at a cost of ₹5000 crore. In Tanakpur, ₹2,200 crore was dedicated for national highway project and ₹17,000 crore for 216 km long for three new track projects .... ”
He said every village situated on the India-China border will be repopulated under the vibrant village programme. “It will happen in five years. It is PM Modi’s guarantee.”
He alleged that there were cross border infiltrations by terrorists during the 10 years of Congress rule and they did nothing. “After the Uri and Pulwama attacks, PM Modi did surgical and air strikes in Pakistan,” he said. “...Houses were given to 40 million people...and it is Modi’s guarantee that 30 million more houses will be given... 100 million people got tap connections, and 10 crore got Ujjawala gas connection. Uttarakhand is number one in implementing the schemes brought by PM Modi. CM Dhami ensured the central government reached every house in Uttarakhand,” he said.