Mumbai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said making Narendra Modi prime minister for the third time would mean responding to every bullet fired from Pakistan with a cannon shell, and accused the Congress of promoting the agenda of the neighbouring country.
Shah was speaking at a campaign rally in Jalna Lok Sabha constituency in central Maharashtra for Union minister and BJP candidate Raosaheb Danve.
"Making Narendra Modi PM for the third time means responding to every bullet from Pakistan with a cannon shell," he said. In the BJP-led NDA, it is decided who would be the prime minister after the elections, but in the opposition's I.N.D.I.A. bloc, decision was yet to be taken on the issue, the senior BJP leader said.
"Their leaders say they will become PM one by one. But such a huge country can not be run like a partnership company. They don't have any vision. But Modi has worked for ten years and has an agenda of 25 years," Shah said.
He also alleged that if there was anyone who takes forward Pakistan's agenda, it was Rahul Gandhi's Congress. "PM Modi undertakes surgical and air strikes (against Pakistan), but Rahul Gandhi questions them. Modi ended Naxalism, but Rahul raises questions over it," the Union home minister said.
The Congress-led opposition was talking about revoking the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and if it came to power, it would commit the "sin of putting a lock with the name Babri on it on (Ayodhya's) Ram Mandir," he alleged.
Shah also accused opposition parties of standing in the way of the construction of the Ram temple, and declining the invitation for its inauguration when Modi got the temple built.
"....they refused to attend the Ram temple inauguration so that their vote bank would not be disgruntled," the Union minister further said. Coming down heavily on the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the BJP's former ally, Shah claimed that Thackeray has now allied with a party (Congress) that wants to bring back triple talaq and run the country as per the Sharia law. "Can this country be run on the basis of Muslim Personal Law? For the sake of some constitutional post, Uddhav is now sitting with such parties," he alleged.
Referring to the alleged scam in the distribution of khichdi to migrant workers in Mumbai during the Covid-19 pandemic when Thackeray was chief minister, Shah alleged that leaders of Thackeray's party were eating "malai" (cream) from khichdi while Narendra Modi was serving the people.
"Uddhav Thackeray is lying at the feet of Sharad Pawar and Congress only for power. These parties opposed the renaming of Aurangabad (as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). He will not utter a single word if people ask him about Ram Mandir, triple talaq, Article 370," Shah said.
Congress preserved Article 370 for long and it was PM Modi who revoked it, Shah said.
Former prime minister late Indira Gandhi gave the slogan `Garibi Hatao' (remove poverty) but no Congress leader could do that, he said, adding that it was Modi who brought people out of poverty.
"Our government is giving ration to 80 crore people and providing free hospital treatment upto Rs 5 lakh," he added.
A dry port was being developed in Jalna which will help transport the steel produced in the region across the globe, he said, adding, "This too is the work of Narendra Modi and (deputy chief minister) Devendra Fadnavis."
Of the six Assembly segments in Jalna Lok Sabha seat, five are with the BJP and its allies.
Jalna will go to polls on May 13, along with neighboring Aurangabad and Beed.
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