Modi rakes up anti-Sikh riots to counter Rahul

M post bureau

Jhansi (UP): Narendra Modi, who faces attacks on Gujarat riots, on Friday raked up the massacre of Sikhs in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi and questioned Rahul Gandhi whether he was angry over these killings in which Congress cadres were accused.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate took a dig at Gandhi saying he had not come here to ‘shed tears’, an apparent reference to the Congress leader’s emotional speech in Churu, Rajasthan, where he had spoken about his angst over the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.

‘I heard about the speech of the shahzada (prince). I want to raise serious questions. He said he was angry when his grandmother was killed. I want to ask the shahzada, is it true that all Congressmen got angry? 

‘Is it true, that you and your partymen in that anger had burnt thousands of Sikhs alive and not a single person has been punished? I understand your anger at the death of your grandmother, but were you angry, pained at the death of those thousands of Sikhs,’ Modi said addressing a rally.

Modi claimed that now that the elections were round the corner, Gandhi had rubbed salt into old wounds. He said ‘anyone who believes in humanity cannot pardon the language used by the Congress vice-president’.

‘There was anger in me for long and I suppressed it...

Then, I realised this anger is not natural but spread by others,’ Gandhi had told the gathering in Churu on Wednesday which included a number of Sikhs.

Rahul also narrated an incident where an MLA from Punjab visiting his office recently telling him that had they met 20 years ago he would have killed the Congress Vice President due to anger.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in Delhi. 

Raising the issue of lack of development in Bundelkhand region, Modi said it was not that the region lacked anything but it was the lack of capability of those in power in Delhi and Lucknow.

Attacking Congress, he asked why farmers were compelled to commit suicides in Congress-ruled states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra or in UP’s Bundelkhand, which is ruled by UPA’s outside supporter Samajwadi Party.

He claimed Congress’ promises ‘packages’ whenever elections are near. Referring to the Bundelkhand package, he said ‘this came in your name but goes into their pocket. Now the time has come to send parties like SP, BSP and Congress packing’.

BJP President Rajnath Singh and senior party leader Uma Bharati heaped lavish praises on Modi in their speeches.

In her speech Bharati said travelling on Gujarat’s roads took the same time as flying in a helicopter over the same distance would. She said in Gujarat, no bribes are taken to clear files and women are the safest in the state.

She claimed that as per a survey report of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Muslims in India are the happiest in Gujarat. She said the people had compelled BJP to declare Modi as their leader.