Country's misfortune that INDIA bloc leaders talking about 'fighting against shakti': PM Modi

Saharanpur (UP): It is the country's misfortune that leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are openly talking about "fighting against shakti", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.

Addressing an election rally in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "Ours is the place of Maa Shakti... In every corner of Hindustan, worshipping shakti is a part of our natural spiritual journey. We are a country which never shuns the worship of Shakti."

"But it is the misfortune of the country that the leaders of INDI Alliance openly throw a challenge that their fight is against shakti," Modi said, in a reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent remarks.

Gandhi had said by 'shakti' he meant "power" and accused the prime minister of twisting his words.

In his address on Saturday, Modi said, "Can anyone finish shakti, challenge the power of shakti? And, those who made an effort to destroy shakti, what happened to them? It is mentioned in history and the Puranas."

At an INDIA bloc rally in Mumbai last month, Gandhi had said, "We are fighting against a 'shakti'."

Later in a post on X, he had said, "The 'shakti' that I mentioned, Modi ji is the mask of that power and we are fighting against it. It is such a power that today it has captured India's voice, India's institutions, the CBI, I-T, ED, Election Commission, the media, Indian industry and the entire constitutional structure of India in its clutches."

"I recognise that power and so does Narendra Modi ji. It is not any kind of religious power, it is the power of unrighteousness, corruption and falsehood. That's why whenever I raise my voice against it, Modi ji and his machine of lies gets upset and enraged," the Congress leader had added.

According to the official website of Saharanpur district, the famed Shakumbhari Devi temple is located in the Jasmour area, about 40 km to the north of Saharanpur.

Eight parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur, and Pilibhit -- will vote in the first phase on April 19. Votes will be counted on June 4.