Rajasthan Govt Schemes Vanished Under Magician', Says Shah

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the Rajasthan chief minister, Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Ashok Gehlot should have resigned over the "red diary", which a sacked minister had alleged contained details of financial irregularities.

Addressing a campaign rally in Rajasthan's Makrana ahead of the November 25 Assembly polls, Mr Shah said that before asking for votes, Mr Gehlot should disclose to the people of the state what is written in the red diary.

Taking a jibe at both the Congress and the Left leaders, the senior BJP leader said that he had met some communists at the airport and asked them about their Rajasthan plans, but they refused to visit the state because the colour of their flag is red.

"They told me that Mr Gehlot gets angry on seeing the colour red," Mr Shah said, referring to the red diary, which, according to the allegation of sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha, contained details of illegal financial transactions of the chief minister.

“Mr Gehlot should have resigned over the red diary instead of taking action against his minister,” Mr Shah said.

Earlier in the day, addressing a rally in Kuchaman, Mr Shah said that law and order, electricity in villages and welfare schemes started by the previous government "vanished" after Mr Gehlot came to power in Rajasthan. He added that "only a magician can do this", alluding to the chief minister's past.

Mr Shah accused the Congress government in the state of being the "most corrupt". He said the Rajasthan government has crossed "all limits of appeasement" and appealed to people to uproot it.

Mr Shah cited the killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, various communal incidents, illegal mining and recruitment exam paper leaks to target the Gehlot government.

The Union home minister said that Mr Gehlot has made law and order, electricity in rural areas and schemes launched by the previous BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje vanish.

"Only a magician can do this," he said, referring to Mr Gehlot's family history. He was born into a family of professional magicians in Jodhpur and briefly assisted his father on his tours.

The former BJP chief accused the Congress of stalling the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya for 70 years.

"The Congress was stalling the construction of the Ram temple for 70 years, but (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi performed its bhoomi pujan," he said.

The Prime Minister is also going to attend the temple's consecration on January 22, he said and he appealed to people to book tickets for their travels to Ayodhya on that day.

He pointed out that the Congress leaders who used to question the BJP have gone silent now.

Mr Shah also alleged that the Congress can neither keep the country safe nor bring glory and he went on to claim that Mr Modi has taken the national flag to the moon.

Referring to various communal incidents in the state, Mr Shah said that the Gehlot government worked to ban Ram Navmi and Mahaveeer Jayanti processions but gave the PFI permission to take out a rally in Kota.

“It was the Modi government that banned the Popular Front of India and put its members behind bars,” the Union home minister said.

Lashing out at the state government over illegal mining, he said, "Illegal mining increased to such a level that a sant committed suicide by burning himself, yet Mr Gehlot did not open his eyes."

He gave a guarantee to the people of the state that tap water will be provided to all households in two-and-a-half years after the BJP forms the state government.

Mr Shah also said that Rs 2-lakh crores were given to Rajasthan by the erstwhile UPA government from 2004 to 2014, whereas the Modi government gave Rs 8.71-lakh crores from 2014 to 2023 and executed projects worth Rs 6-lakh crores in nine years.