Congress dying, Pak crying, says Modi

New Delhi: Asserting that the Congress' deep partnership and collaboration with Pakistan had been exposed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the neighbouring country was eager to foist the "Shehzada" (apparently referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi) as India's next Prime Minister as the country's enemies want a weak government to be at the helm.

Targeting the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc at four back-to-back powerful rallies in Gujarat’s Anand, Surendranagar, Junagadh, and Jamnagar, Modi alleged that the Opposition alliance aimed for "vote jihad" in India.

At the Anand rally, Modi said, "India's enemies hope for a weak government that existed before 2014. The enemies of India want a government that existed during India's 26/11 terror attack. The enemies of India wish for a corrupt government in India, which was there before 2014. But Modi's strong government neither bows down nor does it stop.”

The Prime Minister noted that, unlike under the Congress governments, India today was a bright spot in the global economy and a "Vishwamitra". Today, India is ensuring the safety of all through the "Tiranga".

"Pakistan is crying because the Congress is dying here. Pakistani leaders are now praying for the Congress. Pakistan is eager to make Shehzada the next Prime Minister of India. This is not surprising because we already know that the Congress is 'murid' (follower) of Pakistan," he said.

Modi's assertion linking the Congress with Pakistan came a day after a former minister in Imran Khan's Cabinet, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, reportedly shared a video featuring Gandhi on his social media handle and praised him.

In a veiled dig at Pakistan, the Prime Minister said, "The country that exports terror is struggling to import atta. The hands that used to hold bombs are now holding bheekh ka katora (begging bowl).”

At the rally, Modi once again alleged that Congress wanted to change the Constitution to hand over SC, ST, and OBCs' reservations to Muslims.

“I have three challenges for the Congress: first, they must not indulge in religion-based reservations, disregarding the Constitution. Second, they must not reduce the reservations meant for the SC, ST, and OBC communities. And third, they must not play the appeasement politics card in any state of India,” he said.

Attacking the Opposition over "vote jihad" — the call was given by Congress Farrukhabad candidate Salman Khurshid’s niece Maria Alam at a campaign meeting — Modi said, "Now, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc calls for vote jihad. This is new because we have so far heard about 'love jihad' and 'land jihad'. This is said by a person who belonged to an educated Muslim family, not someone who studied in a madrasa. I hope you all know what the meaning of jihad is and against whom it is waged. This is an insult to democracy and not a single Congress leader has condemned it. Such statements expose that the intentions of the INDIA bloc are dangerous.”

Addressing a rally in Junagadh, Modi attacked the Congress over divisive politics. He said, “The Congress opposes the abrogation of Article 370 and CAA to enable divisive politics. The Congress aims to divide India into North and South and wants to keep India insecure to play its power politics.”

Attacking Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over a recent remark pertaining to Lord Rama and Lord Shiva, Modi said the Opposition party had declared that this election is a fight against Lord Ram.

"The Congress aims to create a conflict between 'Ram Bhakti' and 'Shiv Bhakti'. The president of the Congress party has tried to create conflicts between Shiv and Ram Bhakts, aiming to create unnecessary divisions in the country. The Congress president said his objective is to defeat Lord Rama and that Lord Shiva will defeat Lord Rama. What are they thinking? The Mughals destroyed the Ram temple in Ayodhya and Somnath temple with this same mentality," he asserted.

He also claimed that the Congress boycotted the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya due to its appeasement politics.

In Surendranagar, hitting out at the Congress's governance model, the Prime Minister said, “The Congress' report card is a report card of scams. Their record is replete with scams like the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, the copter scam, etc. The BJP's report card is synonymous with unprecedented development. Our report card has shown the reduction of poverty, empowering all."

Addressing the last rally of the day in Gujarat's Jamnagar, the Prime Minister said, “It’s because of the efforts of Maharaja Digvijay Singh of Jamnagar that India has great relations with Poland. Maharaja gave haven to Polish citizens fleeing the country during World War II."