LUCKNOW:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
mounted a searing attack on the
Congress
and other
opposition leaders
on Tuesday, accusing them of “insulting”
Lord Ram
by “rejecting” the invitation sent to them for the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.
He also lashed out at the Congress and Samajwadi Party for “opposing” the CAA just for the sake of “appeasement politics”.
“Aap (opposition leaders) pehle bhi Ram mandir se nafrat karte, they aaj bhi karte hain. Aapne lakh koshish ki, ki Ram mandir na bane. Par jab logon ne pai pai jama karke bhavya mandir banwaya aur mandir walo ne aapke sare gunah maaf karke aapko amantrit kiya to aapne thukra diya. Aapne prabhu Ram ka ghor apmaan kiya,” Modi said while addressing a massive rally in Pilibhit.
His attack came nearly three months after the opposition leaders turned down the invitation while terming the Ram temple consecration ceremony a “BJP event”. Referring to the expulsion of former Congress leader Pramod Krishnam, Modi said that the opposition parties were laced with so much poison that they expelled their leader who attended the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ event.
“Koi Ram ki pooja kare usey party se nikal do...ye kaisi party hai (What party is the one that expels members for worshipping Ram)?” he questioned, exhorting the people not to forgive such parties and their leaders. Modi said that the Congress can never come out of the swamp of “appeasement politics”.
The PM redirected the jibe at the grand old party, accusing it of coming out with an election manifesto that had the imprints of the Muslim League of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Modi has been making the “Muslim League imprint” remark repeatedly for the past few days, which prompted the Congress to file a complaint with the Election Commission.
Referring to the opposition’s charge against CAA, Modi said that his govt was committed to giving citizenship rights to religious minorities, like Hindus and Sikhs, who were subjected to atrocities in neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. “Where else would they expect to get citizenship?” he said. “But the opposition is turning against them just out of politics of appeasement,” he charged.
PM Modi also attacked the INDIA bloc, accusing it of having sworn to destroy 'Shakti', which was widely revered by the people of the country. “Jis shakti ki aaj puja ho rahi hai, us shakti ka Congress ne ghor apman kiya hai. Jis shakti ke aage hum sheesh jhukate hain us shakti ko ukhaad phenke ki baat ye Congress ke eta kar rahe hain (The Congress has insulted the Shakti that’s being revered.
Their leaders talk about uprooting the same Shakti that we bow our head to),” he said. Significantly, it was the first day of Chaitra Navratra when Modi hit out at Congress, days after Rahul Gandhi unleashed a stunning “Shakti” jibe at PM Modi and his govt. Rahul raised the INDIA bloc’s concerns regarding EVMs last month by saying that “there is a word ‘Shakti’ in Hinduism. We are fighting against a shakti, too.” He had said that all institutions from EVMs to the Enforcement Directorate, were under might (shakti) of the Modi govt.
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