In a two-pronged attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused it of procrastinating resolution of national issues like Article 370 and the Ayodhya dispute. He slammed the party for presiding over “corrupt and unstable” governments in Jharkhand.
Stumping for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominees for the Jharkhand assembly polls, prime minister harped on the nullification of Article 370 that gave the state of Jammu and Kashmir its special status, and the Ayodhya title dispute.
“The talk of Article 370 was on since Independence. The Constitution said the article was a temporary provision. Article 370 is now gone… Tell me whether the entire country has stood behind us on the issue or not. Tell me the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh have stood behind us on this or not. When things are done with good intentions, you have the blessings of the whole country,” Modi told an election rally in Jamshedpur.
The prime minister then spoke about the Ayodhya tangle. “Did Ram Janmabhoomi (dispute) happen after we came to power? Was it not the Congress party that obstructed a resolution? Was it not done for vote bank politics?”
He launched a blistering attack on the opposition JMM-Congress alliance in Jharkhand, alleging it followed the politics of “deception” while the BJP believed in serving people.
Modi alleged rampant corruption and political instability were the hallmarks of the governments helmed by the JMM-Congress alliance. He asked voters to be wary of the opposition alliance as it was only interested in the “loot of Jharkhand’s resources”.
“…Until five years ago, Jharkhand used to be in news for political instability. It saw 10 chief ministers in 15 years before the BJP government led by Raghubar Das came and lasted a full term…,” he said.
In response to Modi’s statements at the rally, Congress spokesperson Pranav Jha said, “PM and his party are back to their old game of distracting the voters from the core issues…Unfortunately it’s not working at all on the ground. His speech is not even working for BJP voters forget that it would work on opponents and the neutral voters.There is rampant unemployment both rural as well as urban much above the national average. And this is in a state which has historically been an east-India industrial hub… For the first time the state is having to bear the ignominy of incidents of hunger deaths…”
Jharkhand will go for the second phase of assembly polls on December 7. The state is holding a five-phases election owing to maoist violence. The results will be declared on December 23.
