Will jail those behind land scams: PM Narendra Modi

FATEHABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked national security and land scams to target the Congress at his rally in Fatehabad on Wednesday.


In his 34-minute speech, Modi made an unveiled attack on former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been named in land scams which took place in Haryana when the Congress was in power. Modi said those who “cultivate corruption (SIC) on the land of farmers had been brought closer to jail in five years”. “If the BJP gets your blessings, they will be jailed in five years,” he said.

In a reference to the Balakot air strike in February this year and the surgical strikes of September 2016, Modi said India would only issue statements when terrorists attacked before 2014, but now the armed forces entered terroist bases in Pakistan and killed them. “We have given new strength to our soldiers, due to which terrorists who would scare us, are now cowering. Masood Azhar has been declared a global terrorist. Congress could not do this because its intentions were not clear,”

PM

said.

The PM claimed that the Congress was talking about abolishing AFSPA (Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act). “It wants a free hand for stone-pelters, terrorists, tukde-tukde gang, those who insult the tricolor, and Naxalites,” Modi said.

He added that the Congress called the chief of Army Staff a “mugger (goonda)” and the chief of Air Staff a “liar”.

He claimed that the Congress had delayed the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ demand by ex-servicemen by 40 years and decided to enforce it in 2013. “The Congress cheated jawans because it gave only Rs 500 crore for OROP. When we calculated it, 35,000 crore had to be transferred,” Modi added.

He also took credit for the National War Memorial and National Police Memorial, saying that the Congress did not build them in seven decades.

Modi reached out to farmers, promising to improve schemes for storing crops. He attacked the Congress’s scheme for waiving farm debts. “In Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has been fooling farmers and they are getting court notices,” he said.

PM Narendra Modi invoked the conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a case of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. “We brought the culprits to book, but the Congress made a chief minister of a leader who is accused of being involved in Sikh riots. It doesnot respect the sentiments of Sikhs,” he said.

The PM even went back to the Partition, claiming that Kartarpur Sahib — the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev — would have been in India if leaders of that would have taken some care and there would have been no need to construct the Dera Baba Nanak corridor.