KARNAL, May 20: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday attacked the Congress, saying the party did not revoke Article 370, which allowed special status to Jammu and Kashmir, for the sake of appeasement politics.
Addressing an election rally here, Shah reiterated that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) belongs to India and “we will take it back”.
The senior BJP leader also attacked the Congress on the Ram temple issue, saying its top leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the temple’s consecration ceremony to please the party’s minority vote bank.
Targeting the Congress on Kashmir, he said “For appeasement politics, they did not revoke Article 370.”
The Congress did not revoke the article despite a rise in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
“You all made Narendra Modi ji the Prime Minister for the second time, and on August 5, 2019, he scrapped Article 370. And now our tricolour proudly flutters in Kashmir,” he said.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who is contesting the Karnal assembly bypoll and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is in fray for the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, were also present in the rally.
Addressing the gathering, Shah told the crowd, “Tell me, is Kashmir ours or not? Say it loudly, your voice should reach Kharge.”
“Kharge sahab, you are 80-year-old but you do not understand the country. Haryana’s youth can give their life for Kashmir,” Shah said hitting out at the AICC president.
Shah was alluding to the AICC president’s recent remark on why the prime minister spoke about the abrogation of Article 370 during a rally in Rajasthan and not the issues plaguing the state.
The home minister also slammed Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s atom bomb remark that has sparked a political row.
“I want to tell Rahul (Gandhi) baba from this land of Karnal, listen with open ears, this is the BJP government, PoJK belongs to India, will remain ours and we will take it back,” he said.
In a purported video clip that has gone viral on social media, Aiyar is heard saying India should give respect to Pakistan as it is a sovereign nation and engage with it as it also possesses the atom bomb. He indicated in the video that if a “mad person” comes to power there and uses the atomic bomb, it will have its effect in India too.
Shah also asked the Congress and particularly, its party leader B S Hooda why they let the Ram Temple issue linger for 70 years.
He highlighted that all the major developments regarding the temple took place in Modi’s second term — the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the temple land, the victory of the Hindu side in the Ram Janmabhoomi case, and the idol consecration on January 22.
The BJP leader also pointed fingers at Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi for not taking part in the “Ram Utsav (consecration) which was happening after 500 years as they feared about their minority vote bank”.
The Union minister also praised Modi on the occasion for making India prosperous and bringing the country’s economy from the 11th to fifth spot.
In Modi’s third term, the nation’s economy will reach the third spot, he added.
