Accusing the Congress government in Rajasthan of being “sympathetic to terrorists”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said appeasement by the ruling party would ruin the State. Terror incidents in Rajasthan, including the murder of Kanhaiya Lal last year, are a threat to its heritage, Mr. Modi said.
“The terror act in which Kanhaiya Lal was killed in Udaipur is a blot on the Congress government. This heinous crime took place because a party which sympathises with terrorists is in power,” Mr. Modi said at an election rally in Udaipur. Rajasthan had seen a number of such “shameful incidents” over the last five years, he said.
The murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur on June 28, 2022, made headlines. The two assailants were allegedly taking revenge for his support of BJP leader Nupur Sharma, who made contentious remarks earlier.
Appeasement
Mr. Modi took exception to the ban imposed by the State government on the Ram Navami procession and Kanwar Yatra, while outfits like the Popular Front of India (PFI) continued to hold rallies. “Who would have thought that such a situation will arise here… The Congress government has committed this sin,” he said.
A ‘unity march’ organised by the PFI in Kota on its foundation day in February last year, several months before it was declared an unlawful association, has generated controversy. The district administration allowed the outfit to conduct its programme inside the Nayapura stadium.
Mr. Modi said there were reports of poor people migrating from several areas of the State and this would increase if the Congress remained. He called upon people to remove the Congress government.
Modi lists failures
The Congress government had completely failed in controlling crimes against women, Mr. Modi said, adding that a Minister’s defence that Rajasthan was a ‘Mardon Ka Pradesh’ (land of men) was “most reprehensible”. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal, who was accused of making the remarks inside the Assembly, later denied it.
The Prime Minister took a dig at factionalism in Congress and said the State government had wasted five years in deciding who would sit on the Chief Minister’s chair. “In the fight for the chair, Congress lost sight of public issues,” he said. “The sole agenda of the Congress is to loot the State and fill its coffers. The party could not survive without corruption,” he said.
Mr. Modi said the BJP would form a government at the Centre for the third consecutive term after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “India is certain to be among the top three economies in the world. For Rajasthan to benefit from this development, it is necessary that you have a double engine government here,” he said.
Mr. Modi also referred to the recruitment exam paper leaks. Instead of protecting the future of youth, the Congress was only worried about its ‘Yuvraj’ (heir apparent). The Congress had also done nothing for the poor and Dalits and was making “false promises” in the run-up to the election, he said.
BJP State president C.P. Joshi, senior leaders of the party and BJP candidates fielded from the constituencies in Udaipur and neighbouring districts of the Mewar region attended the rally.
