Cong encouraging Naxalism, Chhattisgarh will be free of menace if BJP voted to power: Amit Shah

Jagdalpur/Kondagaon: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday accused the Congress of encouraging Naxalism, and said incidents of Naxal violence have come down by 52 per cent in the nine-year rule of the Narendra Modi government.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel turned Chhattisgarh into an “ATM for the Congress,” Shah claimed, adding the Congress rule in the state was a “government of scams”.

Addressing rallies in Jagdalpur and Kondagaon in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, he urged people to bring the BJP to power in the state, promising that his party will make the entire state free of the Naxal menace.

He claimed that if the Congress comes back to power in Chhattisgarh, the money sent from the Centre for the state’s development will be “diverted to Delhi through the ‘ATM’ of Congress”. Polling for the 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh is scheduled to be held in two phases on November 7 and 17 and votes will be counted on December 3. He held the first rally in Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar district, ahead of the filing of nominations of BJP candidates in three constituencies of Bastar.

The Bastar region was once considered as the worst affected by Naxalism and the menace still persists in some places. “Elect the BJP to power in the state, we will free the entire state of the menace,” Shah said.

“In 9 years of the Modi government, incidents of (Naxal) violence declined by 52 per cent, deaths (in Naxal violence) came down by 70 per cent, civilian deaths deceased by 68 per cent, while the (number of) Naxal-affected districts declined by 62 per cent.”

Addressing another rally in Kondagaon, Shah accused the Congress of treating tribals as their vote bank.

Twelve Assembly seats of Bastar region are among the 20 constituencies in Chhattisgarh where voting will be held in the first phase. The remaining 70 constituencies will go to polls in the second phase.