Modi Urges Voters to Choose Between Vote Jihad and Ram Rajya in Election Rallies
BHOPAL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday exhorted people to choose between vote jihad, being promoted by the Congress, and Ram Rajya, being established by the BJP, while exercising their franchise in the ongoing general election.
Addressing poll rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the Prime Minister said the country now stands at a critical juncture of history and the people have to decide whether they opt for the path of vote jihad (a move to unite Muslims against the BJP) or to establish Ram Rajya (good governance).
The Prime Minister said, “As long as I am alive, I will not allow any attempt to erase India’s identity under the guise of false secularism to succeed”. Seeking votes for the BJP, he said, “Modi needs 400 seats to counter every design by the Congress and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc and to ensure that the Congress does not restore Article 370 in Kashmir and that the Congress does not take the initiative of overturning the Ram Mandir verdict”.
Terrorists in Pakistan are threatening jihad against India, while some Congress leaders are calling for a vote jihad against him (Modi), calling upon the people of a particular religion to unite and vote against Modi, the Prime Minister said while speaking at Khargone and Dhar districts of Madhya Pradesh.
He said the term ‘love jihad’ was not acceptable in a democracy and added that the Indian Constitution also did not allow such kind of jihad. “Frustration and desperation have pushed the Congress to stoop to such a low. The intentions of the Congress are alarming and its conspiracies are very dangerous”, he said.
He was referring to an election speech by Maria Alam, a Samajwadi Party leader and niece of senior Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khushid. She had said, “Together do vote jihad -- with intelligence, without being sentimental and with silence. As we can only do vote jihad to drive away this Sanghi government”.
Both Khurshid and his niece have been booked by the Uttar Pradesh police for the remark.
Training his guns at the Congress, Modi said that many senior Congress leaders having association with the party for over three-four decades are now resigning, saying “enough is enough”. One of the woman Congress leaders (Radhika Khera) who resigned from the party has narrated how she was subjected to mistreatment by the party for visiting the Ram temple and another leader said that the Congress was now captured by the Muslim League and Maoists.
“Another Congress leader has exposed that the Congress ‘shehzada’ (referring to Rahul Gandhi) intends to overturn the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Ram Mandir, similar to how his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, had reversed the SC’s decision in the Shaho Bano case,” Modi said.
He also slammed the recent statement by Congress leader and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi that the terrorist attack on an IAF convoy in Poonch last week was a “pre-election stunt by the BJP” to justify his love for Pakistan jibe at the Congress.
Launching a tirade against the Congress and I.N.D.I.A. bloc for their ‘dangerous agenda’ of appeasement politics, Modi addressing rallies in Ahmednagar and Beed in Maharashtra, claimed that no trick of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is working in front of the people.
Modi said now the Congress “B-team from across the border” has been activated to boost the morale of the grand old party. He also said that June 4 is the “expiry date” of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.
Addressing rallies for BJP and Shiv Sena candidates in Ahmednagar and Beed, Modi said, “The expiry date of the I.N.D.I.A bloc is June 4 (when the results of the Lok Sabha election will be declared). After that day, there will be no one to raise the flag of the I.N.D.I.A bloc. This election is being held to choose between those who fulfill people’s desires and those who indulge in appeasement.”
The Prime Minister also alleged that the Congress wants to give reservation to Muslims on the basis of their religion from the quota reserved for STs, SCs and OBCs. “Now, I.N.D.I.A bloc says that they will snatch away reservation from SC/ST/OBC and give it to Muslims. They want to give reservation based on religion, which was not allowed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he said.