PATNA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked Congress for its appeasement policy and accused it of working to re-divide the country. He also cornered the grand old party on corruption, saying those who have “looted” money of the poor would not be spared.
Addressing an election rally at Guraru in Bihar’s Gaya district, Shah alleged that the Congress could go to any extent for votes. “The country was divided in 1947 by the Congress. Today, the party is inclined to repeat it. The BJP and PM Modi will not allow it to do so,” he said. Shah referred to the remarks of a Congress leader who spoke of the country’s division into north and south. He accused the Congress leadership of maintaining silence over such remarks and alleged that the party has favoured the appeasement policy for generations starting with Jawaharlal Nehru to Rahul Gandhi.
On corruption, he said: “The RJD-Congress alliance doesn’t know that the BJP and PM Modi will not spare the corrupt. They will have to return the money at all costs.”
Calling upon people to elect Modi for a third term, he said this election was important because if the BJP returns to power, the country would become the third-largest economy in the world. He reminded the people of his party’s slogan of ‘Abki baar 400 ke paar’ and said Bihar had given 31 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 39 seats to the NDA in the 2019 elections.
“I renew my appeal to the people to give 40 out of 40 seats in this election to make Modi Prime Minister for a third term,” he said.
Shah highlighted the NDA achievements, saying Maoist activities are contained to a large extent across the country and development works were underway in the Maoist-hit areas. Taking a jibe at Lalu Prasad’s RJD for making derogatory remarks against Ramcharitmanas and other religious books of the Hindus, he said: “These people are anti-‘sanatana dharma’ and even opposed to chanting Vande Matram.”
Maoist hotbeds
Polling is due in Bihar’s Aurangabad in the first phase on April 19. The state will witness polling in seven phases. NDA’s Sushil Kumar Singh (BJP) faces Abhay Kumar Kushwaha of RJD from Aurangabad while Jitan Ram Manjhi from Gaya will take on Kumar Sarvajeet. These areas are Maoist hotbeds where armed men of the extremist group CPI (Maoist) are involved in political killings.