Congress a threat to nation: Yogi Adityanath

RUDRAPUR/ROORKEE: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who addressed two election rallies in Uttarakhand on Thursday — at Rudrapur and Roorkee — lashed out at the Congress for envisioning plans in its manifesto to downsize the presence of the Army and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in the Kashmir valley.


In his address at the Ramleela Ground at Kashipur, Adityanath termed Congress ‘a threat to the nation’, alleging that “instead of boosting the morale of Indian soldiers who are protecting the valley and our country's borders, Congress is trying to demoralize them.”

The Congress manifesto released a couple of days back, had promised to review the deployment of armed forces, move more troops to the border to stop infiltration completely, reduce the presence of the army and CAPFs in the Kashmir valley, and entrust more responsibility to the J&K police for maintaining law and order.

Speaking about the achievements of the Modi government, Adityanath who had come to canvass for BJP candidate Ajay Bhatt who is contesting from the Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat, said, “Under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, terror camps are being destroyed which is breaking the back of terrorists as well as Pakistan.”

The UP CM claimed that it was because of the collusion of the Muslim League and Congress that the country faced partition at the time of independence. “Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Wayanad in Kerala once again due to his connivance with the Muslim League. Congress is reverting to appeasement politics to get back to power”, he alleged.

Adityanath also stoked the sentiments of local people by stating that in the Pulwama attack, two soldiers from Uttarakhand were martyred. Terming the election as a contest between 'sankalp' and 'saazish' (determination' and conspiracy), the UP CM said, “Congress is playing into the hands of the separatists while BJP is determined to confront them. In its manifesto, Congress has promised to change AFSPA and is also revoking Section 124A of the IPC, often termed as sedition law, which is an insult to the people of Uttarakhand where each family is proud to have at least one member in the armed forces.”

Continuing his attack on Congress at Roorkee where he campaigned for Haridwar Lok Sabha seat candidate Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Adityanath said, “Congress has now become a burden for the nation. As soon as people get rid of the burden, the success and growth of country would happen in leaps and bounds.” Touching on local issues, he said, “For the kanwar yatra, the work of road widening is going on at top priority between Haridwar and Gangnahar which will benefit devotees.”

In his 35-minute long address, Yogi also spoke at length about Nishank. Praising his ability to ask several questions in Parliament, the UP CM said, “Nishankji has asked several questions pertaining to different issues of Uttarakhand as well as his constituency. He is a man of letters and his creativity always pushes him to think differently as compared to other MPs. It would be a privilege for people of the area to have him as their MP.”