HUBBALLI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah ripped apart Congress for its appeasement politics and charged that its government in the state failed to act against those who raised pro-Pakistan slogans inside Vidhana Soudha and took the Rameshwaram Cafe blast lightly by terming it a cylinder blast, because of which the safety and security of the state is in danger.
Addressing a mammoth public rally here on Wednesday, Shah said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not hear anti-Pakistan slogans, but the entire country did. Also, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took up the probe into the cafe blast and arrested anti-national elements responsible for the incident.
Hitting out at the Grand Old Party, he said that despite an invitation being extended for the consecration of Ramlalla at the newly built temple at Ayodhya, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharage, Congress senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi rejected it in fear of losing their vote bank. While Congress has always practised caste, dynastic and appeasement politics, BJP has opted for development politics to ensure inclusive progress across communities, he stated.
Seeking the people’s support to make Narendra Modi prime minister for the third time, Shah said, “After you elected Modi the second time, within a few months he abrogated Article 370, which Congress did not touch as it was scared of annoying its vote bank. Rahul had opposed the abrogation, fearing a bloodbath on the streets of Kashmir. But nothing has happened in the last five years.”
He ridiculed Kharge’s remark that Karnataka has no relation to the abrogation of Article 370. As he asked the audience that did they concur with Modi’s decision, he got a rousing reply of “Yes”. “Then, shout back at Kharge by saying the people of Karnataka are ready to sacrifice their lives to protect Jammu and Kashmir,” he exhorted the crowd.
Stating that the Modi government has zero tolerance for terrorism, he said that during the UPA tenure, terrorists were striking now and then, but the government’s response was meek. But the BJP government conducted surgical and air strikes and developed the habit of ‘Ghar Mein Ghus Ke Marna’, killing terrorists on their own soil, he said.
Now, the choice is between those involved in Rs 12 lakh crore corruption and a person with no black spot in his 23-year career as chief minister and prime minister, between those who go on holidays frequently and the man who works tirelessly without taking leave even to celebrate Deepavali, between those who took the support of SDPI and those who banned PFI, he said.