Modi's 'dhakad' govt brought down wall of Article 370: PM

Ambala: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the Congress on Saturday and said it was his "dhakad" (strong) government that brought down the wall of Article 370 and as a result, Jammu and Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of progress.

Tearing into the Congress, Modi said its history has been of betraying India's forces and soldiers as he referred to the "Jeep scandal", the "first scam" during the grand old party's rule. "Their first scam was in the (armed) forces," the prime minister said, addressing his first rally in Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls.

"The Congress maintained its track record with new scams till it was in power at the Centre. Be it the Bofors scam, the submarine scam, the helicopter scam -- the Congress used to keep the forces weak. Do you know why? So that in the name of procuring arms from abroad, it could earn huge sums," he alleged.

Referring to Haryana contributing a sizable number of soldiers in the armed forces, Modi said when the Congress was in power, mothers in the state were a worried lot thinking about their children's safety. "Have such things stopped now or not?" he asked the audience that responded with an emphatic "yes".

On Jammu and Kashmir, the prime minister said a weak government could never have changed the situation in the region. “Modi’s dhakad government brought down the wall of Article 370 and Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of development,” he said.

In August 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution that had bestowed special rights on Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union territories. Regarding farmers, Modi said the previous Congress-led government at the Centre spent Rs 7.5 lakh crore to procure foodgrains at the minimum support price (MSP) in 10 years, whereas the current regime’s procurement of crops at the MSP was for Rs 20 lakh crore. He also accused the Congress of cheating sugarcane farmers.

“When we came to power, their arrears had run up to Rs 60,000 crore. This year alone, we paid Rs 1.14 lakh crore,” Modi said.

Referring to the AAP-Congress poll alliance in certain states, he said Congress leaders are holding the “jhadoo” (broomstick, the Aam Aadmi Party’s poll symbol) in Delhi and Haryana, but claiming that “jhadoowala chor hai” in Punjab, where the two parties are contesting the election against each other. The prime minister reiterated his claim that the Congress will redistribute the reservation meant for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) on the basis of religion, and alleged that the opposition party wants to snatch the quota for Dalits in jobs and education.