Targeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar over their continued opposition to the government’s decision on Article 370, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said Mr. Gandhi’s statements against the government were being praised in Pakistan.
“Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar say the BJP has not done the right thing by revoking Article 370...it is appalling that Mr. Gandhi’s statement was used by Pakistan in its petition to the UN on Kashmir,” Mr. Shah said at a public meeting in Solapur district of Maharashtra during the valedictory rally for the second phase of the BJP’s ‘Mahajanadesh Yatra’.
Dismissing concerns about law and order in Kashmir, Mr. Shah said that ever since the scrapping of Article 370, not a single bullet or teargas shell had been fired nor had anyone been killed in Kashmir.
Breaking tradition
Mr. Shah criticised the Congress for breaking the tradition of the Opposition supporting the government on all issues of national interest.
Remarking that the Congress and the NCP always adopted a stance contrary to the government in crucial matters of national security, he said: “I want to know what is Rahul Gandhi’s purpose in opposing us on this issue. If he wants to contest an election based on this issue [dilution of Article 370], we have no worries as the people of this country are rock-solid behind the Modi government on this.”
Stating that no other Prime Minister before Mr. Modi had the courage to dilute Article 370, Mr. Shah said the Indian public had sought such a move for the past 70 years.
He said though Mr. Gandhi had similarly cast aspersions on the surgical strikes conducted by the Modi government, the Pakistan government had later admitted to them.
“Rahul Gandhi had demanded to know where was the proof [in form of photos] for these strikes. Pakistan had similarly raised questions seeking photographic evidence. But I want Rahul Gandhi to remember that the BJP had always stood by the Congress during vital issues pertaining to national security,” he said, remarking that by abrogating Article 370, Mr. Modi had actually paved the way for unity in the country and had opened the doors to Kashmir’s future development.
In stark contrast to the Congress, Mr. Shah claimed that the BJP, when in the Opposition, had always backed the Congress government over issues of national interest like the wars with Pakistan and China, and over resolutions declaring Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India.
Mr. Shah also accused the Congress of siding with people raising anti-India slogans in the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.
Commenting on the continuing exodus of NCP and Congress leaders into the BJP, Mr. Shah said that if Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil opened the party’s doors to all opposition leaders seeking entry, there will be no opposition leader left besides NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Lashing out at the erstwhile Congress-NCP regime in Maharashtra, Mr. Shah said that for the past 15 years, the State had regressed in every sector be it industry or agriculture as both parties were rooted in dynastic politics which only bred corruption.
“When NCP leader Ajit Pawar [Sharad Pawar’s nephew] was the Minister for State Water Resources, the State remained parched despite the Congress-NCP government expending a staggering ₹74,000 crore on irrigation projects,” he said.
Meanwhile, NCP MLA from Osmanabad Ranajagjitsinh Patil, former NCP MP from Kolhapur, Dhananjay Mahadik, and Jaykumar Gore, the sitting Congress MLA from Maan (in Satara) joined the BJP in Mr. Shah's presence.
So far, the Mahajanadesh Yatra has traversed 2,443 kilometres and covered 83 Assembly constituencies. The third phase, which was held back owing to floods in western Maharashtra, will commence there after Ganesh festivities on September 13.
