BHUBANESWAR: Unrelenting in his attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said as it is staring at its worst defeat in the ongoing general elections, the grand old party has begun to scare the people of the country on the nuclear capabilities of Pakistan.
Addressing three back-to-back election rallies in the second leg of his poll campaign in the state, Modi at his Phulbani meeting said “The party will not be even able to claim Opposition status this time. Its strength will go further down after June 4. It will be restricted to less than 50 seats for the third time in a row.”
To keep its vote bank happy, the Congress is finding new ways to create fear psychosis in the minds of the people. “Time and again, Congress has tried to scare the country. They have advised the people to tread cautiously as Pakistan has atom bomb. These people, who are virtually dead, are trying to kill the soul of the country,” Modi said in an apparent reference to senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s recent “Pakistan has an atom bomb” remark.
Aiyar had recently said that India should start dialogue with Pakistan as it was a nuclear power and could drop atom bomb on our country.
“On the other hand, on this day 26 years ago, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had conducted a series of nuclear tests at Pokhran and shown the world how his government was strong enough to ensure the safety and security of the country,” Modi said.
Taking this forward, the prime minister said the condition of the neighbouring country is such that they don’t know how to keep their (nuclear) stockpiles. They are looking to sell their bombs but there are no buyers as everyone knows about the quality, he said.
“Due to such Congress’ mindset, the people of Jammu and Kashmir struggled for decades. They faced terrorism for 60 years because of Congress. India will never forget the times when India used to have frequent terrorist attacks and the Congress leaders used to sit with the perpetrators of the crimes. After the 26/11 attacks, Congress did not set up any inquiry on the attacks for fear of upsetting their vote bank. They were having meetings with terrorists,” Modi said.
Coming down heavily on the Congress over the controversial remarks of its leader for purification of Ram Mandir after the visit of President Droupadi Murmu, the prime minister said, “A day after the visit of Murmu to Ram temple at Ayodhya, a senior leader of Congres said they will purify the temple with Ganga Jal. It is not only an insult to the President of India or Murmu, it is an insult to the entire tribal community, mothers and sisters of the country,” he said.