Shah takes Cong chief to task for his remarks on Kashmir, Art 370

Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressing an election rally at Lakshimpur in Assam on Tuesday. (UNI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressing an election rally at Lakshimpur in Assam on Tuesday. (UNI)

‘China couldn’t encroach an inch of land under Modi Govt’
*BJP Govt secured borders, stopped infiltration

Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Apr 9: Union Home Minister Amit Shah today took Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) to task for his comments on Kashmir and Article 370 of the Constitution of India which was scrapped on August 5, 2019 and declared that China couldn’t encroach even an inch of ours land during Narendra Modi Government.
Addressing a mammoth election rally at Lakshimpur in Assam, Shah said the Congress president says abrogation of Article 370 shouldn’t have been mentioned (by the BJP in Rajasthan) and asked the people what kind of stand it is.
“The Congress president says what Kashmir has to do with rest of the country. He should know we as children used to say `Kutch Ho Ya Guwahati, Apna Desh Apni Maati’,” he said and asked: “Whether Kashmir is ours or not”? The crowd responded strongly: “Hamara Hai (It’s ours)”.
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In a rally at Rajasthan recently, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had questioned mention of Article 370 abrogation by the BJP leaders in their rallies saying how it concerns Rajasthan and had called upon them to rather talk about development.
Shah said under Narendra Modi Government China couldn’t encroach a single inch of land and added that people will never forget first Prime Minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru for saying “bye-bye” to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh during the 1962 Chinese aggression.
“During the Chinese aggression of 1962, Nehru had said ‘bye-bye’ to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. People of these states can never forget that. But now, China could not encroach even a single inch of our land. Even in Doklam, we pushed them back,” he added.
India and China are locked in conflict at Eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) for nearly four years now. Though there has been disengagement at some points, the troops from both the countries remained in eyeball-to-eyeball position at many other points. However, there has been no major incident on the LAC for past quite some time now.
PTI adds from Lakhimpur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Assam’s border with Bangladesh was earlier “open for infiltration”.
“Then the Modi Government came at the Centre, and the Himanta Biswa Sarma’s Government here. Now, we can say that infiltration has stopped,” Shah said.
He said the BJP-led Government at the Centre secured the country’s border with Bangladesh and stopped infiltration.
He alleged that the previous Congress Government in Assam did injustice to the State, and scores of youths were killed in different violent movements and insurgency-related incidents.
“Under the Modi Government in the last 10 years, peace accords were signed and 9,000 youths surrendered,” he said.
Shah noted that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been withdrawn from 80 per cent of areas of the State.
“They signed the (Assam) Accord but did not fulfil the clauses. We signed the Bodo Accord and within two years, all clauses were fulfilled,” he said.
Hitting out at the Congress manifesto, Shah claimed that it favoured the Muslim Personal Law.
“Himanta Biswa Sarma has stopped child marriages. In Uttarakhand, there is the UCC,” he said, drawing a comparison.
Shah said the development of the Northeast is centre to the overall growth of the nation, and urged the people to vote for the NDA candidates in all the seats of the region.
“There are two alternatives before you — to vote for Rahul Gandhi and INDI Alliance, or vote for the Modi-led BJP,” he said, urging people to ensure a third term for the BJP-led Government at the Centre.