PM Modi amplifies unity pitch at Maharashtra poll rally, says ek hain to safe hain
Giving a call to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backwards Classes to unite against “Congress attempts to divide them”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined a new slogan today. “Ek hain to safe hain,” he said at a poll rally in Maharashtra, taking forward RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent line of Hindu unification, where Bhagwat had said “disunity and lack of organisation is an invitation to atrocities”.
Modi also promised that Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir would never be restored.
The PM also accused the newly elected NC-Congress coalition in Jammu and Kashmir of seeking to separate J&K from India “the moment they came to power”. Referring to the resolution passed by the J&K Assembly seeking the restoration of Article 370, Modi said “Congress wants to dissociate J&K from India but Article 370 will never return”.
Speaking of Mahatma Gandhi’s desire to disband the Congress after the attainment of Independence, Modi said, “Gandhiji had foreseen the divisive nature of Congress which has always been part of anti-national conspiracies. A prime example is Jammu & Kashmir, which the Congress separated from the country by incorporating Article 370 in the Constitution and denying Dalits and marginalised communities their rights. The Congress supported terrorism and separatism. We ended this with the revocation of Article 370. But now, Congress and its allies are conspiring to bring it back and once again dissociate J&K from the country.”
Modi said this will never happen. “Article 370 will never return. Baba Saheb BR Ambedkar’s Constitution will prevail in Jammu and Kashmir and no force can change that,” the PM said, addressing his maiden election rally in Maharashtra’s Dhule today.
In important remarks that seek to blunt the Congress-led INDIA bloc’s caste census push, Modi said attempts were being made to “break people up in castes and communities and deplete their collective strength”.
“The Congress agenda is to divide tribes and castes across India and reduce their collective strength. When the Congress had hatched a similar conspiracy in the name of religion, the country was partitioned. Now the Congress wants to pit one caste of SCs, STs and OBCs against another. There can be no greater conspiracy against the country than this,” the PM said, in a no-holds-barred attack on the country’s principal Opposition party. “Will this agenda not weaken you? That is the reason I say — ek hain toh safe hain (if we are united we are safe),” the PM said at a second rally in Nashik.
The slogan is in line with Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s “katenge to batenge” line and the RSS’ professed goal of working for “Hindu unity as in its centenary year”. The RSS was set up in Nagpur on Vijayadashmi Day in 1925. The PM also spoke of the ruling Mahayuti government’s Ladki Behna Yojna which seeks to give Rs 1500 cash benefit to girls and women and said the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi was going to great lengths to “stall the scheme”.
Modi also dared rival Shiv Sena Uddhav faction to get the Congress to praise Veer Savarkar’s sacrifice and martyrdom. Modi will address nine rallies in Maharashtra ahead of the November 20 Assembly elections there.
Greets Advani on his 97th birthday
PM Narendra Modi greeted BJP stalwart LK Advani on his 97th birthday. He said this year was even more special because Advani was conferred the Bharat Ratna for his service to the nation.
