Solapur: Issuing a strong warning to Pakistan, Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah warned Thursday that anybody attacking India will have to suffer 10 times more casualties.
Addressing whirlwind election rallies in Solapur, Sangli and Osmanabad districts in Maharashtra, Amit Shah said amidst roaring applause: “The whole world has realised it now… if one of our jawans is martyred, 10 of theirs will be killed.”
Targeting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for not supporting the government on issues of national importance, Shah reiterated that the BJP didn’t believe in vote-bank politics. “We don’t indulge in politics of vote-bank or appeasement… national interest is our only top priority,” Shah said, referring to the achievements of the government such as the 2016 surgical strikes across the Line of Control after the terror attacks in Uri and the air strikes in Balakot following the Pulwama terror attack earlier this year.
On the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the home Minister pointed out that the Congress and Rahul Gandhi had attacked the decision. They had said ‘it would lead to a bloodbath’. “But today, Kashmir is peaceful,” Amit Shah asserted.
Shah also pointed out how Pakistan-sponsored terror had killed over 40,000 people in Jammu and Kashmir and said that ‘it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who ensured that the crown of India was integrated into the national mainstream of the Indian Union’.
Urging the people of Maharashtra to return the BJP-led alliance to power with a two-thirds majority, the BJP chief questioned what has the Congress-NCP government ‘done for the state in their 15 years of rule’.
Charging the Congress-NCP of fostering ‘dynastic politics’, Shah lauded Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ five-year rule as ‘amazing’. He said that Maharashtra has fared better in all areas of governance compared to all the earlier regimes.
“While Modi has made the country secure, (Devendra) Fadnavis has developed the state. This double-decker BJP government at the Centre and the state will help catapult Maharashtra to the top position in the country,” Shah assured.
Shah also showered praises on Fadnavis for working incessantly for the state’s development and for his concerns for the farmers and the youth. He also hailed the Chief Minister for increasing irrigation facilities from 3.20 million to 4 million hectares, improving road infrastructure, etc, and urged the people to vote for the BJP.
In another meeting at Tuljapur the Home Minister asserted that infiltrators will be made to leave the country and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be implemented for the purpose.
“Before we come to ask for votes in 2024 (general elections), let me assure you that the BJP government will make sure every infiltrator is thrown out of the country,” Shah thundered. “We will throw out everyone residing illegally in our country. Congress and NCP have opposed NRC as such residents form a vote bank for these opposition parties,” added the Home Minister.
Shah also claimed that the Central aid to Maharashtra had gone up considerably during the BJP-led regime. “During the Manmohan Singh-led government, the total Central aid for Maharashtra was Rs 1.15 lakh crore. But this number in the Modi government rose to over Rs 4.30 lakh crore,” informed Shah.
The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will go to the polls on October 21 while the results will be declared on October 24.
Agencies