‘No force can bring back Art 370’
NEW DELHI, Nov 23:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the BJP-led alliance’s sweeping victory in Maharashtra as popular endorsement of its governance model and rejection of the Congress’ “lies and deceit”, as he accused the Gandhi family of spreading the “poison of casteism and divisiveness”.
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Buoyed by the NDA’s unprecedented scale of win in the politically prized State, Modi flayed the Congress for “betraying” the Constitution’s secular principals and cited the Waqf Act, which his Government is seeking to amend, as an example of its “appeasement politics”.
The Congress has tried to inflict capital punishment on true secularism, he claimed, asserting that the Waqf law has no place in the Constitution.
Reiterating his call for “ek hain to safe hain” (we are safe if united), he said this is the biggest message from Maharashtra after the Haryana polls and it has become the country’s “mahamantra”.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Congress to come to power on its own, he said, dubbing the opposition party as parasitic.
The Congress and its allies tried to divide people with lies and deceits, he said in an apparent reference to their claim of threat to the Constitution from the BJP, a plank which harmed the ruling party in the Lok Sabha polls in a few states, but were rejected.
The Congress’ priority is only family, he said in a swipe at the party’s Gandhi family and not people of the country. The royal family is now spreading the poison of casteism, he added.
A family’s hunger for power has gone up so much that it has eaten up the party, he said, claiming that fire of disaffection is surging with the Congress as many of its own leaders no longer identify with its existing values.
When it comes to good governance, people trust only the BJP, he said, noting that the party has also put up an impressive show in the bypolls held across the country. It is a historic stamp on the BJP’s governance model, he said.
“Development, good governance and true social justice have won. Lies, deceit, divisive forces, negative politics and nepotism have suffered a big defeat,” he said of the Maharashtra poll results. People have preferred stability and the state has broken all records in its support of the BJP-led alliance, he added.
In a swipe at the longtime BJP ally-turned-bitter rival Uddhav Thackeray, who heads a Shiv Sena faction, he said the leaders who resorted to betrayal and tried to create instability have been roundly rejected by people.
He said the Congress allied with Uddhav Thackeray but the party and its leaders could not speak in support of the policies of his father Bal Thackeray, a leading Hindtutva voice of his time.
With the Delhi Assembly polls round the corner, Modi highlighted the popular support for the BJP in major cities in many states and emphasised on his party’s agenda for making Indian cities among the best in the world.
His Government has been working to boost urban infrastructure by launching new metro trains, highways and electric buses, he said, describing cities as engines of development that also strengthens villages.
The urban region’s support to the BJP is a message for modern India and a rejection of those putting obstacles in its development, said Modi. Urban India wants ease of living and it trusts the BJP, he added.
The Prime Minister noted that Maharashtra has become the sixth state where people have elected the BJP to power for a third straight term, stressing that it underscores people’s truth in its good governance model.
The Congress and its allies were again trying to create a wall of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.
“I want to say this to the Congress and its allies that no force in the world can bring back Article 370 and insult our Constitution,” Modi said. (PTI)
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