The Bharatiya Janata Party, which used the supreme sacrifice of 40 Indian soldiers in Pulwama in Kashmir for its electoral gains in 2019 and sowed seeds of hatred to create bloody clashes between two ethnic groups in Manipur, is portraying the Opposition parties as ‘anti-nationals and urban naxals’ for the sake of votes in the upcoming Parliamentary elections, Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi said here on Tuesday.
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Addressing voters at Tirunelveli Town, Ms. Kanimozhi said the BJP believed in creating division among the people for the sake of political gains and was sowing nationwide hatred against minorities and creating clashes between two ethnic groups in Manipur. After the north-eastern State witnessed the loss of hundreds of lives in bloody clashes, most of the population had been moved to relief camps where they were living in fear and there was no guarantee for their lives.
“There is no medicine, no milk for children, no food, no safety and no future for the Manipur people because of this unprecedented ethnic clash orchestrated for the sake of political gains. Even after a few thousand goondas paraded two Manipur women naked along the streets, no one was booked. Above all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is feverishly visiting every country across the globe, did not visit Manipur and meet the affected people. However, we, the members of INDIA Bloc met the distressed and displaced Manipur people in the relief camps, who are living in fear every minute,. If the BJP comes to power again, every Indian State will witness this situation,” Ms. Kanimozhi cautioned.
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She recalled the terrorist attack on the army column in Pulwama in 2019, saying the supreme sacrifice of the jawans was used by the BJP that portrayed the attack as an attack on the nation and got votes.
“When Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik raised disturbing questions about this attack and sought explanation from the BJP, the sinister designs of the party for the sake of votes came to light. However, right from Mr. Modi, the rank and file of BJP project themselves as the saviour of the country,” she said.
Mocking at Mr. Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and State BJP president K. Annamalai for raising the Katchatheevu issue now, she said the BJP government, which was in power for the past 10 years, did nothing to translate their claim of working on retrieving the islet belonging to Sri Lanka.
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“These so-called leaders are raising this issue now to bury their miserable failure to check the Chinese incursions in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. While capturing over 2,000 square km in Ladakh region, China has created a few villages in Arunachal Pradesh and christened these hamlets in Mandarin language. Since the Opposition is raising this serious issue in every platform, these ‘Desh Bhakts’ are diverting the people’s attention by raising Katchatheevu issue,” she said..
She also mocked at Mr. Modi’s recent love for Tamil and Tamils and the abuse of Tamils and Tamil by Governor R.N. Ravi and Mr. Annamalai.
“Since Bishop Robert Caldwell proved through his research that Tamil is an independent and classical language and was never dependent on Sanskrit, Mr. Ravi abuses the Bishop. And, Mr. Annamalai abuses the anti-Hindi agitation as ‘torn footwear’. If Mr. Modi is unable to speak in Tamil, we are happy to appoint a master to teach him Tamil as he will be free all the time after the elections,” Ms. Kanimozhi said recalling that Mr. Modi refused to visit the flood-hit Tamils in December last.
“Like the colonial rulers, Mr. Modi is keen on looting Tamils’ resources through taxes”, she added.
Appealing to voters to exercise their franchise in support of INDIA Bloc candidates, especially Robert Bruce in Tirunelveli, Ms. Kanimozhi promised that the cooking gas cylinder price would be brought down to ₹500 a cylinder, while petrol price would be slashed to ₹75 a litre. All toll-gates on the national highways would be removed while setting right GST irregularities.