Gurdaspur/Jalandhar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and accused it of not only allowing the “genocide of Sikhs” but also protecting the rioters while its governments at the Centre ensured punishment to the culprits after coming to power.
While campaigning for BJP candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab, he alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann cannot take any decision on his own and has to go to Tihar Jail in Delhi to get orders. He said, “Delhi ke darbari’ (courtiers of Delhi) are running Punjab. The Punjab Chief Minister cannot take any decision on his own. His master went to jail and the Punjab government stopped work.” He was referring to the arrest and imprisonment of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case related to the excise policy.
Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party is also in power in Punjab. Kejriwal was released on May 10 after getting interim bail from the Supreme Court. He has to surrender on June 2. While campaigning for BJP candidates Dinesh Babbu (Gurdaspur), Taranjit Singh Sandhu (Amritsar) and Anita Som Prakash (Hoshiarpur), Modi said, “To get new orders and run the government, the Chief Minister (Mann) had to go to Tihar Jail and present his report card.” Modi said that after June 1, ‘corrupt Kejriwal’ will go to jail again.
Describing the development of the state as his priority, he said, “Will the Punjab government be run from jail again? Do you want such a government? Targeting the Congress and ‘India’ alliance, Modi said that no one knows the real face of this alliance better than Punjab.
He said that this is the same alliance that has given the most wounds to Punjab. The Prime Minister said that after India’s independence, it gave the wounds of partition and then the wounds of instability for its own benefit and continued the period of unrest for a long time. Modi said, “They fueled separatism in Punjab. Then they got the Sikhs massacred in Delhi. As long as the Congress was in power at the Centre, it kept protecting the rioters.” He said, “It was Modi who got the files of anti-Sikh riots opened.” The Prime Minister said, “It is Modi who ensured punishment to the culprits.” He said that the Congress and the party with the broom have a problem with this, so they abuse Modi day and night. It is worth noting that the election symbol of AAP is broom.
Referring to the role of Sikhs in the Ram Mandir movement, Modi said the first person to fight for the construction of the Ram Mandir was a Sikh. He said, “He fought for the Ram Mandir and, when the Pran Pratishtha ceremony took place (in January), his family members attended the event.” Modi said that when Amarinder Singh was leading the Congress government in Punjab, the party wanted to run his government through remote control. He said, “But Captain Amarinder Singh refused to obey the orders of ‘Delhi Ke Shehzade’.
Modi said Singh is a patriot and he gave priority to national security as Punjab is a border state. He refused to obey ‘anti-national orders’. He said, “What was the result? ‘ The royal family and princes of Congress removed him (Singh) from the post of Chief Minister of Punjab.” Singh was unofficially removed from the post of Chief Minister by the Congress in 2021. He later left the party and joined the BJP. Attacking the AAP, Modi said, “Unfortunately, even today attempts are being made to run the government through remote control.
Terming the ‘India’ alliance as the ‘biggest threat’ to the country’s national security, Modi said that it is once again talking about implementing Article 370. He said, “They want terrorism in Kashmir once again. They want to hand over Kashmir to the separatists. They will again send a message of friendship to Pakistan. Pakistan will carry out bomb blasts and there will be terrorist attacks in the country.” Criticizing the Congress, Modi said that the problem is that it does not have ‘faith in India’.
He said, “Princes go abroad and defame the country. They say ‘India is not a nation’. That is why they want to change the identity of the country.” Prime Minister Modi also targeted Congress for rejecting the invitation to the Prana Pratishtha ceremony of Ram temple in Ayodhya. He said that the leaders of the ‘India’ alliance are calling the Ram temple ‘unholy’ and ‘useless’. Accusing the Congress and AAP of putting the future of Punjab at stake, Modi said that the problem of drugs is increasing, criminals are getting protection from the state government, development has stopped and farmers are worried.
Modi said that the 2024 election is an election to give leadership to the country. He said that on one side there is BJP and NDA, who have a clear vision of ‘developed India’ and on the other side there is ‘India’ alliance which is ‘deeply communal, casteist and nepotistic’.
Modi also said that the constituent parties of ‘India’ are trying different methods to fool the people. He said, “They show themselves as friends in Delhi while in Punjab they abuse each other.” Congress and AAP are fighting the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi in alliance. In Punjab, they are fighting the elections separately.
Modi said, “People have understood that these two shops have the same shutter.” Remembering the late Gurdaspur MP and actor Vinod Khanna, the Prime Minister said that he was his very good friend. He said, “We worked together for a long time. He (Khanna) was always connected to the ground.” He said that his contribution as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre is still discussed. The Prime Minister said, “He built many bridges and many roads. People appreciate his work even today.”
Their balloon has burst, nobody wants to vote for Congress-India alliance: Modi in Jalandhar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday continued his scathing attack on the ‘India’ alliance, saying the opposition alliance’s ‘balloon’ has burst and no one wants to vote for it. Addressing an election rally in Jalandhar, Modi said five phases of polling have been completed in the country and the sixth phase is scheduled to take place on Saturday, for which the election campaign has ended.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister addressed a rally in Gurdaspur district. His first rally in Punjab in this Lok Sabha election was held in Patiala on Thursday. Modi said, “Their balloon has burst.” He said that no one wants to vote for the Congress and the ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ (INDIA).
He said, “If you stand at the square in Jalandhar and ask 100 people whose government is going to be formed, then 90 people will say that Modi’s government will return.” He said that when the public has made up its mind to form the Modi government again, then who will make the mistake of voting for someone else. The Prime Minister said that the country has seen a new era in the last 10 years, while during the Congress rule, people were suffering from problems which he solved. Modi said that there was a time when the threat of terrorism was increasing in the country, his government has broken its back.