Journalism of Courage
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, attacked the Congress, and asked voters to look out for “the Chunavi Hindu (electoral Hindu)”.
Maurya, who was campaigning in Ahmedabad ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, said Gujarat was more important than Uttar Pradesh for the BJP. “For us, Gujarat with its 26 Lok Sabha seats and 182 Assembly seats is more important than Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats.”
At a public event organised by the Anya Bhasha-Bhashi Cell (Other Languages Cell) of state BJP in the Amraiwadi constituency, where the BJP has fielded Hasmukh Patel, a doctor, Maurya said, “Those whose only aim is to insult Hindus in the country are chunavi Hindus. Look out for them…When elections are around, they go to the temple of Lord Somnath, Lord Ram, Hanuman. You should recall that when the Congress was in power in the country, it had told the Supreme Court that Lord Ram is just imaginary.”
He added: “Today, what forces the Congress to pay respects to Ram Lalla? The people of the country have known the character of Congress. And therefore, the country is becoming Congress-free.”
Maurya went on to credit Modi for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.“If Sardar Vallabhbhai had not been there, would the Somnath temple be renovated? And if you had not elected Modi as the PM of India, would the temple of Ram Lalla be built in Ayodhya?”
Attacking the Congress, Maurya said: “The world’s tallest statue of Sardar Patel, has been installed here (in Gujarat). But have Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra or Congress’s current president (Mallikarun Kharge) paid their obeisance at his feet?”
