In late CDS Bipin Rawat’s village, Baluni flags Congress ‘disrespect’, says party has ‘no moral right to ask for votes in Uttarakhand’

He was referring to comments made by Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit in 2017, for which he later apologised.

Baluni called it unfortunate that no leader of Uttarakhand Congress apologised for the remarks or called for Dikshit’s resignation, and instead, they stood with the party’s top leadership. He said that the Congress party has no moral right to ask for votes in Uttarakhand.

“Today, five of their candidates seek votes in Uttarakhand. The public will rightly question them on their silence when derogatory comments were made against General Bipin Rawat, a son of the soil and our pride. The Congress has a history of undermining the armed forces, seeking to demoralise them,” Baluni said.

In response, former Congress state president and the party candidate from the seat, Ganesh Godiyal, said the people of Uttarakhand will decide who has the moral right to ask for votes.

While the BJP has given a ticket from the Garhwal seat to party national chief spokesperson Baluni, Congress has relied on a former MLA (Srinagar seat) and former Congress state president Godiyal. Both are contesting their first Lok Sabha elections.

The death of General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and officers from his staff, including Brig L S Lidder, in a helicopter crash near Coonoor in December 2021 was a key issue in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections for Uttarakhand. During the election campaign in Uttarakhand, a state with a significant population serving in the defence forces, both the BJP and Congress had placed an emphasis on matters concerning the armed forces.

Leading up to the elections, the BJP conducted its ‘Shaheed Samman Yatra’ across the state, commemorating the sacrifices of 1,734 martyrs by collecting soil from their villages. Additionally, they organised a groundbreaking ceremony for ‘Sainya Dham’ in Dehradun, aimed at fostering a sense of national pride and inspiring individuals to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

During its ‘Vijay Samman Rally’ in Dehradun, held to commemorate India’s victory over Pakistan in 1971, the Congress prominently displayed a large cutout of Rawat alongside cutouts of Indira and Rahul Gandhi. The party also initiated a three-day ‘Veer Gram Pranam Yatra’ starting from Rawat’s ancestral village.