© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Stepping up his attack on the Congress and setting the stage for a bitter showdown in Karnataka where campaigning for the May 10 Assembly election ends Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Gandhi family of calling for the secession of the state from India, and “taking the lead in working against the interests” of the country.
Wrapping up his Karnataka campaign with an election rally at Nanjangud in Mysuru district Sunday, Modi said the “Congress party’s royal family, Shahi Parivar”, in order to “influence politics” in the country, has been “openly inciting foreign powers to interfere” and “secretly meeting foreign diplomats who do not like India”.
He said he “never thought that the disease of the tukde tukde gang would reach such heights in the Congress”.
“The Congress Shahi Parivar has gone a step ahead in this Karnataka election, breaking convention and crushing sentiments of the country… I want to tell all of Hindustan, with great pain… The Congress Shahi Parivar came to Karnataka yesterday and said they want to protect the sovereignty of Karnataka… Do you know what this means? … When a country becomes free, it is called a sovereign country. What the Congress is saying is that it considers Karnataka separate from India,” he said.
“Do you accept this? Shouldn’t the Congress be punished for saying such a thing? It means Congress is openly advocating Karnataka’s secession from India. I never thought that the disease of the tukde tukde gang would reach such heights in the Congress,” he said.
Responding to Modi’s charge, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, speaking at a rally in Bengaluru South, said, “He forgot development and inflation, and I don’t know what international conspiracy he was talking about. He does not understand even now that people want to discuss their issues and their problems.”
Modi told the crowds that the Congress was “insulting” the freedom fighters of the state and “patriotism” of crores of Kannadigas. The Congress, he said, had a history of dividing brothers and making states fight each other. “Whenever they did so, people of the country united to defeat them. For political oxygen, they want to come to power in Karnataka at any cost,” he said, adding that the party would get a reply on May 10.
Terrorists and criminal elements, he said, are emboldened whenever the Congress assumes power. This, he said, is dangerous for national security. “We have seen repeatedly that for appeasement, Congress stands with terrorists. We have seen that in Kerala and Karnataka. On May 10, when you vote, you have to remember this. In many nations we are noticing that wherever terror, anarchy and crime are spared, there is destruction everywhere. Investment comes only to places where there is law and order,” he said, adding that only the BJP can ensure law and order.
