Nadda flags off BJP yatra in MP; attacks Oppn alliance over DMK leader's 'Sanatan Dharma' comments

Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda on Sunday appealed to people to reject the opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A, which he alleged was spreading "hatred" and "poison" and attacking the country's culture and tradition.

Speaking at a function in Chitrakoot city of Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls due this year-end, Nadda also urged people to make the BJP victorious in the state and also at the Centre in the next Lok Sabha elections to "help the country become the third largest economy in the world".

Later, amid slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', Nadda flagged off the BJP's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' from Chitrakoot.

BJP's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra, standing on a vehicle of the yatra, waved party flags as the crowd chanted 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.

"Rahul Gandhi's 'Mohabbat ki Dukaan' (shop of love) has turned out to be 'nafrat failane wali dukaan' (shop spreading hatred). Why is hatred being sold in Rahul Gandhi's Mohabbat ki dukaan?" he asked.

"The opposition (I.N.D.I.A alliance) that met in Mumbai a couple of days ago is attacking India's culture, tradition and religion. Has this political game plan been hatched in Mumbai? Is their politics revolving around finishing Sanatan Dharma?" Nadda asked before flagging of his party's mass outreach programme.

He said a major constituent of the opposition alliance - (Tamil Nadu's ruling) DMK - has attacked Sanatan Dharma.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin's son Udhayanidhi Stalin has remarked that Sanatan Dharma should be abolished and had likened it to coronavirus, malaria, the BJP chief said.

"Throw away such an alliance which is against our Sanatan Dharma and is spreading poison. They want to abolish it (Sanatan Dharma). Eradicate them. Will the opposition alliance go to the people with the issue of finishing off Sanatan Dharma for the polls," he asked.

The National Democratic Alliance under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working with all its might to make India a developed state while the opposition's arrogant (opposition) I.N.D.I.A alliance gathered in Mumbai, he said.

"On one hand, India is trying to win over the Sun and the Moon (apparent reference to lunar Chandrayaan-3 and solar Aditya-L1 missions), on the other hand the arrogant alliance is inflicting heavy wounds on our religion, culture and tradition," Nadda said.

"MP has been buzzing with development since the BJP came to power in 2003. In 2002, MP had just 620 medical seats, while it is more than 4,000 now. Then, there were 310 educational colleges. Now the number has shot up to 536. Twenty years ago, there were 23 industrial areas in MP, which has climbed to 112 now. Industries were just 0.6 per cent in MP. Now they are 24 per cent," he said.

The former Union minister said MP is number one in the country in cleanliness, water conservation and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

The PM Awas Yojana was derailed during the time Kamal Nath was chief minister between December 2018 and March 2020 but the BJP managed to bring it back on track, Nadda said.

"During economic slowdown in the world, there is a ray of hope that the Indian economy is the fastest growing in the world," he said.

It is believed that Lord Ram spent a major part of his 14-year exile in Chitrakoot.

The BJP's yatra starting from Chitrakoot will end on September 22 at the famous Ram Raja Temple in Niwari district of Bundelkhand region, a BJP leader said.

The BJP had won the Chitrakoot assembly seat in 2008 when its candidate Surendra Singh Gaharwar emerged victorious. This time, Gaharwar's name has figured in the BJP's first list released last month as candidate for the Chitrakoot seat. The Niwari seat is held by BJP MLA Anil Jain.

Four such yatras will be taken out from other places in MP in the next week, BJP leaders said.

During the course of the yatras, the BJP will reach out to the people through large public meetings and highlight welfare schemes of the Centre and the state and their achievements.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address a meeting of BJP workers to mark the culmination of these five mass-contact programmes on September 25 in state capital Bhopal, party leaders said.

September 25 is the birth anniversary of the late Deendayal Upadhyaya, a stalwart of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh that later became the BJP.

The yatra will pass through the Vindhya and Bundelkhand regions of Madhya Pradesh.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP had won 24 of the 30 seats in the Vindhya region and 15 out of 26 seats in the Bundelkhand region.

BJP leaders said these five yatras will cover 10,643 km by crisscrossing 210 of the state's 230 assembly constituencies before reaching Bhopal.

The formal culmination of the yatras will take place on September 25 in Bhopal with a 'Karyakarta Mahakumbh', they said.