PoK will be 'merged' with India if BJP gets 400 seats, claims Himanta
NEW DELHI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday claimed that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will be "merged with India" if the BJP gets more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing an election rally in Jharkhand's Ramgarh, Himanta also claimed that temples will be built at the Krishna Janmabhoomi site in Mathura and in place of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi after the party gets 400 seats.
He further said that during Congress' rule, no discussions were held in Parliament regarding Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
"When the Congress government was in power, we were told that one Kashmir is in India and the other in Pakistan. It was never discussed in our Parliament that Pakistan has 'Occupied Kashmir,' it is actually ours. Right now, agitation is happening every day in PoK and people are protesting against Pakistan by holding the Indian tricolour in their hands. If Modi ji gets 400 seats, then PoK will also become India's. It has already started," Himanta added.
The Assam CM also claimed that the BJP needed to get over 400 seats to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across the country.
"BJP needs over 400 seats to build the 'Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi' temple and 'Gyanvapi temple', and implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), just like when it crossed the 300-seat mark in 2019, it built the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. It also ensured the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir, and implemented the CAA," Sarma said.
"Like Assam, infiltrators from Bangladesh are changing the demography of Jharkhand, while the JMM and Congress are indulging in their appeasement," he alleged.
The Assam Chief Minister also asserted that the BJP government is working to give more strength to reservations.
"PM Modi himself comes from the OBC category. BJP has been in power for 10 years. Our government is working to give more strength to reservations. Congress wants to end SC, ST and OBC reservations and give reservations to Muslims, which they have already started in Karnataka," he added.
Earlier, highlighting the protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reiterated on Tuesday that "it has been India and will always be," adding that people in PoK must be comparing their situation with those living in Jammu and Kashmir, pointing out the evident progress in the latter region.
The Pakistan Paramilitary Rangers in PoK shot at several protestors on Monday, leaving dozens and several others severely wounded. The incident left several locals of the area injured, as several thousand locals were out on the streets to raise their demands against taxes on electricity bills, cuts in subsidies and an end to the perks and privileges of the Prime Minister and President.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)