BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath claimed on Wednesday that the country was unsafe and unsecure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Ye kahte hain ki Modiji ke bagair desh asurakshit hai, par mai toh kahta hoon ki Modiji ke rahte huye desh asurakshit hai (The BJP people say that the country is unsafe without Modiji, but I’ll say that the country is unsecure and unsafe till Modiji is there),” said Nath, while addressing journalists at Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) HQ in Bhopal on Wednesday.
“The BJP leaders talk about nationalism and national security. I want to question them was the country unsafe before Modiji came to power. I also want to question them that were the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Indian Military Academy, National Defence Academy and Sainik Schools built by Modiji,” questioned Nath.
Before addressing the journalists, Nath released the Congress’ theme song for Lok Sabha polls. The party has also come up with a rap song, besides songs in Nimari, Bundelkhandi and Bagheli (all languages spoken in MP) to expose the Modi government in MP, where BJP won 27 out of the 29 seats in 2014 LS polls.
When questioned about what was the Congress’s priority, defeating Modi or making Rahul Gandhi the PM, the MP CM said both formed party’s priority as without defeating Modi, Rahul Gandhi cannot become PM.
While speaking about Congress’s possibility in the state in the four-phase Lok Sabha polls, Nath, who is also the MP Congress president said “I’m getting reports from every district, where people are now feeling cheated due to the BJP government at the centre and people will give a befitting reply to the present regime at the centre in the polls. It’s often said that Bhopal and Jabalpur are tough seats for the Congress. But I can confidently say that we’ll win both Bhopal and Jabalpur seats,” said Nath.
Importantly, while Congress has fielded ex-CM Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal, the suspense continues over who will take him from the BJP. The Bhopal seat has been a BJP bastion since 1989.
In Jabalpur, the BJP has fielded its state president and three-time sitting MP Rakesh Singh, while the Congress is likely to field Rajya Sabha member and legal eagle Vivek Tankha from the seat, where Singh defeated Tanka by over 2 lakh votes in 2014 polls.
When questioned about the Congress manifesto promising scrapping of sedition law once in power, Nath said, “It’s antique law formulated in British era for freedom fighters What is the date of sedition law, please tell me, British time. Shall we keep that law. They (BJP) should be ashamed of themselves and should have scrapped this themselves.”
Referring to his meeting on certain schemes not part of the Vachan Patra, the Congress election manifesto of assembly polls, Nath claimed he has chalked out various schemes for MP but refrained from sharing them with the media saying model election code of conduct was in force and he would announce these decisions on May 24.
On the controversy revolving around Article 370, Nath said the Congress has tried raising all the crucial issues in the manifesto and also talked about this. “The question here is whether Kashmir’s situation was better now or was five years ago.”