After playing the ‘son of the soil’ card and slamming Congress leaders for “calling names”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted the Congress party again over terrorism and said the party “goes soft on terrorism to save its vote bank”.
Campaigning in his home State Gujarat ahead of voting for the Assembly polls, the Prime Minister accused the Congress of targeting him during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government instead of targeting terrorists who had “struck at will” when the party was in power at Centre.
He also recalled the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike and Batla House encounter in which terrorists were gunned down by the Delhi Police, and said that it was important to “save Gujarat and the country from Congress and like-minded parties which go soft on terrorists to protect their vote bank”.
He claimed that “several Congress leaders cried” when terrorists were killed in the Batla House police encounter in the national capital.
“Congress views terrorism from the prism of vote bank. Not only Congress but many like-minded parties have come up now who view terrorism as a short cut to achieve success and this small party’s hunger for power is even bigger,” he said, apparently referring to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a new entrant in the State’s politics.
It appears that without naming the AAP, the Prime Minister had possibly alluded to its stance in Punjab, where it’s allegedly “soft” towards certain “pro-Khalistan elements”.
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He added that the Congress and such like-minded parties did not “open their mouth” when big terrorist attacks took place “so that their vote bank is not offended; they even go to courts from the back door to save terrorists”.
The Prime Minister claimed that terrorism had been at its peak when the Congress was in power at the Centre and said that the party had not been tough against terrorists.
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“Gujarat had long been a target of terrorism. The people of Gujarat were killed in blasts in Surat and Ahmedabad. We asked the Congress to go after terrorists but they targeted me instead. Terrorism was at the peak in the country,” Mr. Modi said.
Leading the BJP’s campaign from the front, the Prime Minister, holding rallies and roadshows across Gujarat, has picked the opposition Congress as the main target of his speeches.
Earlier, he had hit out at the Congress leaders for calling him names, recalling remarks by Congress leaders such as “maut ka saudagar (merchant of death)“ and a person from “low caste”, playing the ‘son of the soil’ card and pitching for the BJP.
On Sunday, he held several rallies in Netrang in Bharuch, and Kheda, and then a roadshow and rally in Surat where voting will be held on December 1.
He also talked about “surgical strikes” by the Armed Forces, and held that Congress leaders even “questioned the [defence] forces over the surgical strike”.
According to him, since 2014, after his government came to power, terrorists have to think twice before launching a strike, and his government was working to completely eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country.
