Lashing out at the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) for organising a rally under the banner “Save Democracy”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged that it was held “to protect the corrupt”.
The opposition parties recently organised the rally in Delhi in solidarity with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who were arrested in separate cases by the Enforcement Directorate.
Mr. Shah, who was in Bengaluru to address a BJP election preparation meeting, asserted that nothing had happened to democracy to stage a rally to save it.
He told the INDIA leaders, “Please open your ears and listen to me. We had promised before coming to power in 2014 that we would send the corrupt people involved in scams amounting to ₹12 lakh crore during the UPA regime to jail. Now tell me, should we not put the corrupt behind the bars?”
He further remarked, “Rahul Gandhi should be ashamed that ₹350 crore cash was seized from his MP’s house. Similarly, ₹51 crore was seized from the house of a Minister in Mamata Banerjee’s Ministry. Should these people be put in jail or mahal (palace)?”
He said the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections were being fought between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who did not face even a single corruption charge despite being in power for several decades, and the INDIA alliance which was an alliance of dynastic and corrupt politicians.
Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a hard worker who never took even a single day of holiday, he said on the other hand Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was known to go abroad whenever the summer heat increased and the Congress would have to search for him for the next six months.
Alleging that the Congress had been dodging the Ram Mandir issue for a long time, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had shifted Ram from the tent to the temple in Ayodhya which was a dream of centuries.
Accusing the Congress of practising politics of appeasement, he said none of the Congress leaders had turned up at the consecration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya as they were afraid of losing their vote bank.
