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The election heat has peaked in Gujarat, where the BJP camp is leaving no stone unturned to stimulate voter emotions by bringing out controversial skeletons from its closet.
A fresh example of it was seen in the address by the BJP chief Amit Shah at his public address in Valsad and Chhota Udepur in South Gujarat on Friday, when he invoked 2002 post-Godhra riots to fuel the emotions.
2002 riots invoked
“After the riots following the 2002 Godhra carnage, the Congress defamed Gujarat. But it was the BJP which reinstalled the pride of Gujarat and today we can see Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spread the pride of Gujarat across the world,” Shah said at a rally in Chhota Udepur, part of the tribal belt in the State.
The State goes to the polls in the third phase on April 23 and the campaigning ends on Sunday.
Even as the Congress pitched in with its ‘Nyay’ scheme to promise justice to different sections, Shah lambasted the Congress for meting out injustice to Gujarat and its leaders since the Independence. “First, after Independence they did injustice to Sardar Patel. Then same injustice happened with Morarji Desai. And later Soniaben (Gandhi) came and labelled Narendrabhai (Modi) as ‘Maut na Saudagar’ and did injustice to him as well. It is the Congress’ tradition to do injustice to Gujarat,” said Shah, playing the ‘son of soil’ card in Valsad.
‘Only Modi’
The fight for 2019, according to Shah, is not about development (vikas). “Development is bound to happen. But the bigger issue is about national security. No one except Narendra Modi can protect the country. Only Narendrabhai can make the country a global power, no one else can do it,” Shah said in Valsad, adding that it was his 246th Lok Sabha constituency visit in the past four months.
Shah also reiterated his “promise” to rescind Article 370 favouring Jammu & Kashmir and vowed to not let Kashmir secede from India. “If at all some day, when the BJP is not in power, the BJP karyakartas will fight till their last breath to keep Kashmir an integral part of India. We will not let the decades of sacrifice go in vein. Once we achieve majority in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha we will remove Article 370 from the Constitution,” Shah said amid cheers from the crowd. Shah also claimed credit for the BJP government for conducting air strike in Balakot in Pakistan and said, “This isn't a government of Maunibaba Manmohan. This is Narendra Modi’s government. If a goli (bullet) comes from Pakistan, it will be responded to with a gola (bomb). And a brick from Pakistan will be replied with a stone,” Shah said.
Congress campaign
The Congress President Rahul Gandhi camped in the State for two days to address three rallies each in Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat. The 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat has become a battle of prestige for both the camps as the BJP eyes a repeat of clean sweep in the home State of its top two leaders – Prime Minister Modi and the party chief Amit Shah.
The Congress, on the other hand, looks to ride on the anti-incumbency factor in the villages and maximise the damage to the BJP.
“We have delivered what we promised in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh,” Rahul said, referring to farm loan waiver. “We want to assure you that we will stand with farmers and want to remove the fear from your heart. The real justice (Nyay) will happen for women, farmers, youth, unemployed and small businessmen if Congress comes to power,” Rahul said.
For the latest on elections, click: Elections 2019
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