‘Partnership exposed’: PM fires Pak, ‘vote jihad’ salvo at Congress

New Delhi, May 2

Ahead of the Phase 3 of the Lok Sabha elections on May 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fired fresh salvo at the Congress bringing in Pakistan for the first time during his canvassing, saying “the collaboration between Pakistan and the opposition party stands fully exposed”.

The PM raked up former Pakistan minister Chaudhruy Fawad Hussain’s X post praising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to say: “Today when the Congress stands weakened in the country and can’t be found even with a magnifying glass, when it is dying, Pakistan is crying. You would have learnt of Pakistan leaders praying for the Congress and Pakistan keen to see Congress prince (read Rahul) as the Indian PM. The Congress has been a mureed (follower) of Pakistan. Now this partnership between the Congress and Pakistan stands exposed,” Modi said while canvassing in Gujarat’s Sundernagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar.

All 26 Gujarat seats will see polling in a single phase on May 7. The BJP is eyeing a hat-trick in Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s home state.

The Congress hit back, saying the PM had “pressured the Pakistani leader to praise the former Congress chief so that he could exploit the remarks for political gains”.

The PM, meanwhile, also flagged senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s niece Maria Alam’s recent “vote jihad” call at a rally in UP, accusing the opposition of polarising voters.

Alam, an SP leader, on Monday appealed for vote jihad in support of the INDIA bloc candidate from Farrukhabad. She has been booked for violating the Model Code of Conduct by seeking votes on religious grounds.

Terming the trend of “vote jihad dangerous”, the PM said, “We had heard of love jihad and land jihad. Now the INDI Alliance aims for vote jihad. This is a dangerous trend,” he said.

Bringing in Pakistan, Modi said India’s enemies wanted a weak government at the Centre “one that was in power during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and only sent dossiers, one that was corrupt and unstable”.

“A strong, stable government of Modi neither bends nor stops,” he said, attacking the erstwhile UPA dispensation. He went on to throw three challenges at the Congress — “Give a written guarantee to the country that you won’t change the Constitution to grant reservation to Muslims on the basis of religion; that you won’t dilute reservations meant for SCs, STs and OBCs; and that states where you and your allies rule won’t allow Muslim quota through the backdoor by diluting OBC quota”.

“Flashing the Constitution is not enough. Let the Congress prince come to Modi if he wants to learn how to live and die for the Constitution… but the Congress lacks the courage to take on my challenges,” Modi said.