Modi’s ‘dhakad’ government brought down wall of Article 370, says PM at Ambala rally
Ambala, May 18
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the Congress on Saturday and said it was his “dhakad” (strong) government that brought down the wall of Article 370 and as a result, Jammu and Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of progress.
Tearing into the Congress, Modi said its history has been of betraying India’s forces and soldiers.
“Their first scam was in the (armed) forces,” the prime minister said, in an apparent reference to the “Jeep scandal”, without naming it.
Modi was addressing his first Lok Sabha poll rally in Haryana. Later, he addressed another rally in Sonepat’s Gohana.
“The Congress maintained its track record with new scams till it was in power at the Centre. Be it the Bofors scam, the submarine scam, the helicopter scam — the Congress used to keep the forces weak. Do you know why? So that in the name of procuring arms from abroad, it could earn huge sums,” he alleged.
On Jammu and Kashmir, the prime minister said a weak government could never have changed the situation in the region.
“Modi’s dhakad government brought down the wall of Article 370 and Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of progress,” he said.
Modi asserted that the welfare of farmers is his priority and said the previous Congress-led government at the Centre spent Rs 7.5 lakh crore to procure foodgrains at the minimum support price (MSP) in 10 years, whereas the current regime’s procurement of crops at the MSP was for Rs 20 lakh crore. He also accused the Congress of cheating sugarcane farmers.
Referring to the AAP-Congress poll alliance in certain states, he said Congress leaders are holding the “jhadoo” (broomstick, the Aam Aadmi Party’s poll symbol) in Delhi and Haryana, but claiming that “jhadoowala chor hai” in Punjab, where the two parties are contesting the election against each other.
The prime minister reiterated his claim that the Congress will redistribute the reservation meant for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) on the basis of religion, and alleged that the opposition party wants to snatch the quota for Dalits in jobs and education.
“The Congress has nothing to do with women, farmers and youngsters. For the Congress, its vote bank is everything,” he said.
He also slammed the opposition party for saying it will scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Act if it comes to power.
The Congress and its partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have drawn a blank in the first four phases of polling, he claimed.
“When there is a dhakad government in the country, the enemy thinks 100 times before doing anything,” Modi said.
He said Pakistan, which earlier had bombs in its hands, is now holding on to a “begging bowl”.
The Congress never cared about the small needs of the country’s soldiers, including their clothes, shoes and bullet-proof jackets, he said. “India is now selling to other countries weapons that it used to buy from them,” the prime minister said.
He accused the Congress of betraying the ex-servicemen and keeping the “One Rank, One Pension” issue lingering for four decades, and said it was his government that fulfilled the promise made to them.
Voting for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will be held in the sixth phase of the seven-phase election on May 25.
Among those present at the Ambala rally were former Haryana chief minister and the BJP’s Lok Sabha poll candidate from Karnal, Manohar Lal Khattar, the party’s Ambala and Kurukshetra candidates, Banto Kataria and Naveen Jindal.
