Hold polls to make India strong: Shah to Rahul Gandhi

Polls should be held to make India and its economy strong, to give Pakistan a befitting reply and not to fulfil a family's wish to make its "prince" the prime minister, BJP chief Amit Shah said on Saturday in a veiled attack on Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi.

Shah, while addressing the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp' bike rally here, also slammed the opposition for raising doubts over the recent air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan.

"Elections should be held in the country to make the country and its economy stronger. To take the country's pride to the sky...to strengthen the security...to give a befitting reply to Pakistan...in the interests of 50 crore poor...and not just to fulfil the desires of ageing leaders who wish to become the prime minister or a family that wishes to make its prince the PM," Shah said.

Amid the cheering crowd, he praised Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who returned from Pakistan on Friday, saying he came back to India after shooting down Pakistan's F-16 fighter plane.

"During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure, maximum number of terrorists were eliminated in the country...Goli ka jawab goli se diya (We gave a bullet for a bullet), and answered the Uri terror attack by launching a surgical strike.

"We have let the people know that the country is being ruled by the Narendra Modi government," he said.

When Shah asked BJP workers present at the rally, who will make the country, its economy capable of giving a befitting reply to Pakistan, they chanted "Modi, Modi".

The BJP chief criticised Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for raising doubts over India's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan.

"Desh ke jawano ke khoon ka badla lene ki himmat nahi thi...Yah Narendra Modiji hai jo yah kar rahe hai aur aap sawal utha rahe hai ki air strike hui ki nahi...Rahul Gandhi, Mamata aur Akhilesh sawal utha rahe hai aur ochhi rajneeti kar rahe hai. (You didn't have the courage to avenge our soldiers' blood. Modiji is doing that and you are questioning it! By doing so, Rahul, Mamata and Akhilesh are doing cheap politics)," he said.

He criticised the Congress for "delaying" the implementation of the 'One Rank-One Pension' scheme for defence personnel, and also the construction of the National War Memorial.

Modi recently inaugurated the National War Memorial, adjoining the iconic India Gate complex in New Delhi, nearly 60 years after it was mooted to honour the fallen soldiers after Independence.

Shah said the BJP will create a record of sorts on Saturday with one crore of its workers taking out bike rallies from 3,800 locations across the country to reach out to voters.

He later led the bike rally in the town by riding pillion on Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha state unit president's Abhilash Pandey's bike.