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Addressing his first rally in Rajasthan ahead of the upcoming Assembly election, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday targeted the Congress government in the state over “appeasement politics” and issues such as the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, as well as allegations of corruption.
He also praised the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the success of Chandrayaan-3. His address also included references to the Mughals and the warrior kings of Rajasthan.
Shah said at the rally in the town of Nawan in Nagaur, that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has crossed all limits when it comes to “politics of appeasement”. He said that since 2019, there has been communal violence in Tonk, Dungarpur, Baran, Jhalawar, Karauli, Jodhpur, Chhabra, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Nohar, Mewat, Malpura, and Jaipur.
Mentioning the killing of Kanhaiya Lal, he said, “I want to ask, what are you doing Gehlot ji? What did you do? You imposed restrictions on Ram Navami and Mahaveer Jayanti, but on the other hand, the PFI (Popular Front of India) takes out a rally openly,” he said.
The murder of Kanhaiya Lal last year was alleged to have been linked to his support of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who had made controversial comments on the Prophet during a TV debate.
Both the main accused, Mohammad Riyaz and Ghouse Mohammad, were picked up by Rajasthan Police hours after the crime.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have also previously raised the issue of Kanhaiya Lal’s murder in separate rallies.
On Tuesday, Shah said, “God bless Modi saheb, who banned PFI and lodged them in jail”. If the Congress government comes back to power in the state, he said, there would be no safety from organisations like the PFI.
Criticising what he termed “politics of appeasement”, he also mentioned instances from last year, such as the razing of a 300-year-old temple in Alwar, and the suicide of Sant Vijay Das who had demanded the termination of mining activities in the revered hills in Bharatpur, as well as the murder of a Dalit man, Krishna Valmiki, in Jhalawar in 2021. “Doesn’t everybody have rights in a democracy? Can this politics of appeasement continue? Uproot this Gehlot government which does this kind of politics of appeasement,” he said.
On the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, Shah said, “Is Kashmir ours or not? Should Article 370 have been removed or not? They (previous Congress-led governments in the Centre) couldn’t dare to remove Article 370. You need a heart for that.”
He also brought up the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. For 70 years, Shah said, the Congress party was “delaying, stalling and misleading on the issue of the Ram Temple”.
“Modi ji did the bhumi poojan, and on January 22, 2024, Modi ji will do its praan pratishta (consecration ceremony of the deity),” he said.
Shah also praised the PM for the success of the Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission, saying, “Modi ji has taken India’s Tricolour to the Moon.”
Hailing Rajasthan as a “land of honour and glory for all of India” for centuries, Shah said it had “bravely faced the storm of the Mughals and worked to stop them.” To this day, the bravery of Maharana Pratap, Bappa Rawal, Rana Sanga and Maharana Kumbha is remembered, he added.
“And in his five years, Ashok Gehlot left no stone unturned to destroy this land of the brave. I can say here in Nawan that the Rajasthan government has been the most corrupt government,” Shah said.
He alleged that multiple scams took place under the Gehlot government, including a scam of Rs 66,000 crore in the mining department, a Rs 2,000-crore scam related to the Udai Sagar lake, a Rs 200-crore scam related to the Kalisindh Dam, a Rs 100-crore ration scam, and a Rs 450-crore old-age pension scam.
“Can a second mandate be given to this corrupt government?” he asked, saying that once the “double engine government” takes effect in Rajasthan, every household would get drinking water within two-and-a-half years.
He said Gehlot was like a magician who made the progress made by the previous BJP government in the state vanish.
Listing the benefits given by the Modi government to Rajasthan, Shah said, “In 2014-23, Rs 8.71 lakh crore was given to the state by the Modi government. Apart from this, 6 lakh crore under various projects, national highways, airport, refinery, and railways was given. This totals to Rs 14 lakh crore in nine years.” The UPA government, by contrast, had only given Rs 2 lakh crore to Rajasthan in its 10 years between 2004 and 2014, Shah said.
