Modi attacks “Shahzade” Rahul Gandhi at his second public rally in Jhansi

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Photo: PTI
Photo: PTI

Jhansi, 25 October: Addressing his second rally in Uttar Pradesh, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi slammed the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, saying that he has insulted the Muslim youth of riot-hit Muzaffarnagar district by alleging that they were in touch with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Modi also demanded that Gandhi either name those youth or tender an apology to them.

Gandhi sparked off a huge controversy when, while addressing an election rally in Indore on Thursday, he alleged that 15 Muslim youth coming from riot-hit families in Muzaffarnagar were in touch with the ISI. He also charged that the youth were the victims of the communal riots engineered by the BJP in Muzaffarnagar.

Referring to Gandhi as ‘Shahzada’ Modi said, “Before levelling such a serious allegation he should have identified and named those youth of Muzaffarnagar who are in touch with the ISI; if you are unable to name them, then apologise to the nation as you have levelled a very serious allegation”. Questioning the authority of the UPA government at the Center he asked, “Your party is ruling the country and Uttar Pradesh is ruled by your ally, the Samajwadi Party, then how come the ISI is spreading its network in the state?”

“What is the government at the Center doing when the ISI is provoking innocent youths from Muzaffarnagar? Is the UPA government merely a news agency whose job is to give news to the people? It’s your job to counter the activities of foreign intelligence agencies in the country”, said Modi in his second rally in UP at Jhansi on Friday in the Bundelkhand region.

Questioning the propriety of the Intelligence Bureau sharing intelligence inputs with Gandhi, Modi asked, “Who is Rahul Gandhi and why are India’s intelligence agencies sharing secret intelligence inputs with Rahul Gandhi who is just an MP and does not hold any office in the government?”. He further asked, “The country wants to know how someone who has not taken the oath of secrecy is being briefed by the IB and given inputs for his political speeches from intelligence Agencies.” Urging the people to remove this government he said, “How can you trust such a leader and the government? Dislodge them in the next elections”.

Targeting Gandhi, the Gujarat Chief Minister said, “The Shahzada (crown prince) recently said that he was very angry when his grandmother was assassinated in 1984. Did he feel the same anger against those Congressmen who were behind the massacre of thousands of Sikhs in Delhi in the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi?”.

Continuing his tirade against Gandhi, Modi said, “The crown prince of the Congress is only rubbing salt on the old wounds of the Delhi Sikhs; even after three decades of riots not a single Congress leader has been prosecuted.” He further added, “Those having faith in humanity will forgive Rahul Gandhi for his utterances”.

In an obvious dig on Gandhi, the BJP leader said, “I have not come here to cry and complain and to narrate some tragic tales before you and shed my tears. I am here with a resolve to wipe away your tears”. In his recent election rallies in Rajasthan, Gandhi had spoken in detail about the tragedies in his life after the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.

Accusing Rahul Gandhi of behaving like a monarch Modi said, “Parliament elections are around the corner, and instead of focusing on emotional issues he should tell the people about the report card of the UPA government at the Center; and what it has done for the common people, as an elected government is accountable to the people of the country”.

Focusing on the plight of the parched region of Bundelkhand region, from where close to 7 million people have migrated to other states for livelihood during the last one decade, Modi said, “Congress is an old expert in extending largesses like development packages. A package for Bundelkhand was also sanctioned by the Center, but where has the money gone? The bore wells, check dams and agriculture mandi yards exist only on paper; the money was pocketed by the leaders of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi party”.

“The package was like food crumbs thrown by the Center on the leaders of the SP and BSP only to silence them, and they pocketed the entire money. Forget the package now, and it’s high time to pack off the troika of SP, BSP and Congress from the politics of Uttar Pradesh”, said Modi, adding that “UP has the ability to wipe out poverty from the country but this troika of SP, BSP and Congress is least interested in development of the state; they only know the art of pitting one section of people against another and engineering conflicts on the grounds of caste, religion and political manipulation for staying in power”.

“The Congress represents arrogance, SP family rule and BSP, individualism in politics. They are loaded with promises to lead people to the garden path, but they only know how to fill their own coffers with no concern for the common man. The destiny of UP will never change until this troika is thrown out of state politics”, said the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Referring to his humble past – Modi was born in a backward caste family and was a tea vendor at a railway station in Gujarat – he said, “You gave the Congress 60 years, give us only 60 months and we will change the ‘tasveer’ (image) and ‘takdir’ (destiny) of Bundelkhand and the whole nation”.

Expressing his gratitude to the BJP for naming him the prime ministerial candidate Modi said, “Do not make me the prime minister. I will be your chowkidar (guard) in Delhi and will never be the ‘Panja’ (election symbol of the Congress) to loot the state exchequer”.

The rally in Jhansi on Friday was the second in Uttar Pradesh out of the proposed nine rallies to be addressed by Modi in the state by year end. The Jhansi rally was aimed not only at influencing voters in the four parliamentary constituencies of the Bundelkhand region in UP, but also in districts like Guna, Datia, Panna, Shivpuri, Teekamgarh and Chatarpur in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh going to the assembly polls next month.

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