NEW DELHI, Apr 29: After triggering a row over his “yeh dil maange more” comments, Narendra Modi tonight asserted that he holds Kargil martyr Capt Vikram Batra as well as his parents in high esteem and would quit politics rather than even thinking about disrespecting such citizens.
The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate denounced the controversy over his usage of the phrase used by late Batra and wondered “what kind of politics is this” that one even cannot remember martyrs.
In a 3D telecast, he said Congress is using “all tricks in the book and all abuses” to target him as it is sensing defeat in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
“When I went to Kolkata, I remebered Subhash Chandra Bose, when I went to Jhansi, I remembered Rani Laxmi Bai and today I went to Himachal Pradesh and remembered the great son of India Vikram Batra. But When I returned to Ahmedabad I got to know how my political rivals have distorted my statement. I was deeply hurt,” Modi said.
He was referring to his comment in Himachal Pradesh where he used the phrase ‘yeh dil maange more’ to seek 300 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. Batra’s father G L Batra said his son should not be dragged into politics.
Batra’s mother Kamal Kanta Batra is a candidate of Aam Aadmi Party from Hamirpur in HP.
“Vikram Batra is a son of India. Is it a crime to remember a martyr? Their parents have sacrificed a lot and I bow to them…. What sort of a political fever is this that does not allow you to remember the martyrs of India,” he said.
Asserting that he had not insulted Batra, Modi said, “I would rather quit politics than even think of insulting our martyrs and their parents. Modi is made of different mettle.”
In an obvious reference to recent attacks on him by Congress, he said ruling party has sensed defeat and is stooping to new lows to target him.
“As a Chief Minister for the last 12 years, there is no stain on me. My Congress friends have filed all kinds of PILs against me in courts. I have come out of this like gold… I am baffled. You have had to stoop to such level. You have such a big Government. Were you sleeping so far? Why did not you hang Modi,” he said.
Congress had recently attacked him over his alleged links with a hawala dealer and been targeting him for benefiting select businessmen in Gujarat.
“Congress is rattled. I know they have lost the game. People are determined to finish you off,” he said.
The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate said the vested group which prospered and expanded under the watch of Congress regimes in the last 60 years have launched a “ferocious one-sided” attack on him.
He alleged that the UPA Government was trying to suppress his voice by “forcing” the media not to show his speeches live as they used to earlier.
Attacking the “maa-beta” Government, he said no dispensation has received so many stricture from the Supreme Court as this one and it instead of following its order insulted it. (PTI)
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