LUCKNOW, May 15 : Opposition parties’ allegations that the BJP will end reservations if it comes to power again is a lie, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday.
Addressing a public meeting organised in support of the BJP candidate from Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha seat, Kaushal Kishore, Singh targeted the Congress and Samajwadi Party saying the parties were attempting to fool the people during elections.
“A rumour is being spread by SP and Congress leaders. They are lying to the people that if the BJP government comes to power, reservation will end. The truth is that reservation will never end,” the Union minister said.
“I want to tell the Congress and SP that people are like God. Don’t lie to them. If you want to do politics then do it by speaking the truth. You want to do politics by throwing dust in the eyes of the public,” Singh said.
The defence minister urged the voters to “rise above party sentiments” this election and vote “not for us but for the country”.
“Lakshmi ji never come to the house riding a bicycle (SP’s election symbol), or waving her hand (Congress’ election symbol) nor does she ever come to the house on an elephant. When Lakshmi comes home, she comes sitting on a lotus flower (BJP’s election symbol),” the minister said.
Singh said, “Today, Samajwadi Party’s condition is such that the chain of its bicycle has now come off. The condition of Congress is getting worse day by day. Sometimes I worry about what has happened to such a big and old party in the country.”
“I think that after 10 years if you ask any child about Congress, he will ask, ‘Which Congress’? Just as dinosaurs have disappeared from the whole world, I think Congress will also disappear from Indian politics,” he said.
Singh also targeted the Congress claiming that former Pakistan minister Fawad Hussain had praised its leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Where do these people (Congress) want to take the country? What do you want to do? It is Pakistan that carries out terrorist acts on Indian soil,” he said.
Singh claimed there were terrorist incidents in all states during Congress rule, but barring some “isolated incidents” in Kashmir, there have been no terror attacks in any state since the BJP came to power.
“Being the defence minister of the country, I want to say that today India’s strength is that it can kill on this side of the border and if necessary, India can kill on that side of the border also,” he said.
The minister also claimed that during the Russia-Ukraine war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi “stopped the war for four and a half hours” and evacuated more than 22,500 students stranded in Ukraine safely and brought them home.
Further attacking the Congress, he said the party has not been able to remove poverty under any of its prime ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. “You saw that 70 years have passed and no one has been able to end poverty in India,” he said.
In the past 10 years under PM Modi, the situation has improved, Singh added.
Elections will be held in Mohanlalganj in the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls on May 20. (PTI)
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