Rahul Gandhi’s thinking similar to Pakistan’s: Amit Shah

Opposition showing defeatist streak, says Home minister in poll rallies in Maharashtra

October 11, 2019 01:32 am | Updated 01:32 am IST - Pune

Home Minister Amit Shah addressing a rally at Jath, in Sangli, on Thursday.

Home Minister Amit Shah addressing a rally at Jath, in Sangli, on Thursday.

Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his opposition to the Modi government’s withdrawal of Article 370 in Kashmir, and wondered why Mr. Gandhi’s thinking and tone was similar to that of Pakistan’s.

“When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches surgical strikes to counter terror strikes, Rahul Gandhi demands proof of these strikes just like Pakistan does. When Pakistan opposes the repeal of Article 35A and Article 370 pertaining to Kashmir, so does Mr. Gandhi… I fail to understand why Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi think alike each time. Their language is so similar that the entire country is confused,” Mr. Shah said, questioning how the Congress could keep the country secure.

Public meetings

Mr. Shah was addressing a series of public meetings in different parts of Maharashtra as part of the BJP’s campaign ahead of the Assembly election.

After a massive roadshow and public meeting in Jath in Sangli district in western Maharashtra, he addressed three more public meetings in Solapur, Osmanabad and Latur districts.

Slamming Mr. Gandhi’s ‘support’ for allegedly seditious elements at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the past, Mr. Shah warned that the BJP would not hesitate to put such elements in prison. “Rahul Gandhi is welcome to hurl insults on the BJP, Mr. Modi or me… but if he [Mr. Gandhi] persists in backing those who are intent on dividing this country, then the BJP will make sure that such people are put behind bars,” said the BJP president.

Vote-bank politics

Mr. Shah again raked up the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party’s opposition to the removal of Article 370, saying both parties had opposed it merely because they wanted to indulge in vote-bank politics.

“Rahul Gandhi claims that blood is flowing in Kashmir after we withdrew Article 370, but in reality nothing has happened and everything is peaceful… Today, even the world has supported Mr. Modi and our government on this move while Pakistan and its Prime Minister [Imran Khan] stand isolated,” he said, lauding Prime Minister Modi for taking the unprecedented step of unifying the country and realising the dream of Akhand Bharat (undivided India) by removing Article 370.

Mr. Shah said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was among the first to congratulate Mr. Gandhi’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi (the then Prime Minister), after her decisive leadership led India to victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.

“I would like to remind Rahul Gandhi that though we were in the Opposition at the time, we have always stood by the government when it came to matters of national interest, something that the BJP has regarded as greater than the interest of the party,” he said.

Mr. Shah said the Congress-NCP Opposition showed a strong “defeatist streak” even before the Assembly election. While the BJP’s national and State leaders were touring 20 Assembly constituencies a day, Mr. Gandhi had only just returned from his Bangkok ‘sojourn’, he said.

He said that among the opposition leaders, only NCP chief Sharad Pawar was trying to put up a fight with his active pre-poll campaigning. In the same breath, Mr. Shah said Maharashtra had regressed during the 15 years of the Congress-NCP coalition’s ‘misrule’.

“On the one side, the BJP-Sena is fighting together under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis with a vision for a developed Maharashtra and on the other, the Congress and NCP, with their paralysed leadership, are divided among themselves,” he said. While the BJP-led NDA stood for a “secure India,” the Congress-NCP coalition were emblematic of “dynastic politics,” he said.

Charging Mr. Pawar with having practised vote-bank policies for decades, Mr. Shah demanded the NCP chief to tell the people of Maharashtra whether he was in favour of the withdrawal of Article 370 or not.

Mr. Shah praised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, saying he had given Maharashtra a stable government after a long time.

“In the past, with the exception of Vasantrao Naik, no Maharashtra Chief Minister could complete his full term of five years as the strings were being pulled by the Sultanate at Delhi [Congress high command], which kept changing chief ministers,” said the Home Minister.

Detailing the irrigation projects the BJP government had introduced for parched Sangli, Solapur and Latur, Mr. Shah accused the erstwhile Congress-NCP government leaders of parochialism and said they selfishly worked for the interests of the people in their constituencies only.

“Let Sharad Pawar and the Congress give an account of what they have done for Maharashtra… Unlike them, the BJP works for the uplift of every district and taluk, transcending caste and communal barriers,” Mr. Shah said.

Mr. Shah’s address was crucial for the BJP’s candidate for the Jath Assembly seat, Vilas Jagtap, who is the sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Jagtap’s position has been seriously threatened after Ravindra Arali, an obstetrician and charismatic former BJP leader, raised the banner of revolt by filing his nomination as an Independent.

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