BEED: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday claimed the Congress will reverse the Supreme Court verdict on Ram temple if voted to power just like its landmark 1985 ruling in the Shah Bano case was overturned by the Rajiv Gandhi government as part of the party's appeasement politics.
Modi said a senior Congress leader, who quit the party recently, has revealed that "shehzada" (a reference to MP Rahul Gandhi) called a meeting of select people after the 2019 SC verdict in the Ram temple case and said if his party comes back to power, the apex court decision will be overturned just like his father (then-PM Rajiv Gandhi) did in the Shah Bano matter.
In 1985, the SC had ruled in favour of Shah Bano, a Muslim woman from Indore who had sought maintenance from her husband after divorce, but the then-Rajiv Gandhi government overturned the judgement through an Act.
In November 2019, a five-judge apex court bench had paved the way for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, ending a decades-long land dispute.
The PM was addressing an election rally at Ambejogai in Beed district in central Maharashtra in support of BJP candidate Pankaja Munde.
The BJP stalwart noted the Congress and its allies in the opposition INDIA bloc insulted Lord Ram and his devotees by mocking the rituals performed at the newly constructed temple in Ayodhya by calling them "bekar" (useless) and "pakhand" (hypocrisy).
"These people cannot dare to say such things about other religions.They insult Lord Ram and Ram bhakts for appeasement politics.Can such parties enhance Maharashtra's glory," he asked the gathering.
Modi highlighted the "vote jihad" appeal made by an INDIA bloc constituent's leader in Uttar Pradesh and senior Congress politician Vijay Wadettiwar's comments that Pakistan terrorist Ajmal Kasab did not kill the then-Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare during the 26/11 attacks.
The Congress "has some connection with the ten terrorists who entered Mumbai in November 2008" and created mayhem, he alleged.
"People are asking the Congress -- Yeh rishta kya kehlata hai' (what is this relation called?). During the Congress rule, terrorists were welcomed in the PM house. A top Congress leader shed tears after the Batla House encounter in Delhi. I want to ask the Congress if it wants to bring back these old days? But Modi is standing like a 'chattan' (rock) in front of you," he told the crowd.
The Beed Lok Sabha seat will vote on May 13 in the fourth phase of elections.
