Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday alleged that the National Conference, PDP and Congress want to release terrorists and stone pelters to plunge Jammu and Kashmir into the fire of terrorism again.
Addressing three election rallies on the last day of campaigning for the first phase of assembly elections on September 18, the BJP leader said until terrorism is completely eradicated, there will be no talks with Pakistan or cross-LoC trade, which was suspended in April 2019.
Shah urged voters to “defeat the dynasties” of Abdullah, Gandhi and Mufti and alleged that terrorism flourished under their rule. “Defeat these three families once and I promise you terrorism will be buried so deep that it will not return for seven generations,” he said. Shah said the Narendra Modi-led government will provide employment to youth with laptops and the tricolour in their hands and will not allow these parties to revive terrorism.
The minister said jails are ready for those who have guns, while addressing rallies in support of BJP candidates in Paddar-Nagseni, Kishtwar and Ramban. Launching a scathing attack on National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, he said he has stooped so low in his frustration that he has made baseless allegations of Indian Army having links with terrorists.
Referring to former home minister Sushil Shinde’s recent remark at the launch of his autobiography that he was scared to visit Srinagar’s main hub Lal Chowk during his ministerial tenure, Shah invited the Congress leader to visit the Valley with his family. “You must have heard Shinde, a senior Congress leader from Maharashtra, saying that he is scared to visit Lal Chowk. I want to tell him that he should now come with his children and grandchildren. No one can even cut your hair because we have made Kashmir safe by eliminating terrorism,” the home minister said while addressing an election rally in Ramban district.
Referring to former Congress president and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s frequent visits to Kashmir in recent times, he said, “Rahul baba is roaming around on a bike, eating ice cream and throwing snowballs at his sister (Priyanka Gandhi) and at the same time abusing (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.
“You are abusing Modi but this was not possible during your government. We have eliminated terrorism, so you came there with your (Bharat Jodo) Yatra. This was possible because there is a BJP-led government at the Centre,” Shah said. Referring to the ‘Ekta Yatra’ led by then BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi in December 1991, Shah said he and Modi were part of the yatra which was to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk but it was stopped at Ramban. “We spent two days in Ramban and later a helicopter was made available for us to hoist the tricolour at Lal Chowk. The situation has changed and now Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami are celebrated and Tazia (procession by Shia community) is taken out and there are no riots,” he said.
Addressing his first election rally of the day at Gulabgarh in the Paddar-Nagseni assembly constituency in support of former minister Sunil Sharma, Shah said the National Conference-Congress alliance will not be able to form the J&K government. “Today, I promise the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the region which has a history of sacrifices after the eruption of terrorism in 1990, that we will bury terrorism at such a deep level that it will never surface again,” the home minister said.
He said efforts were being made to revive and strengthen terrorism like in the 1990s. “I am telling you in front of the Maa (Machiyal Mata) temple that this is Modi’s government and no one has the courage to spread terrorism on Indian soil,” he said. Shah said the BJP government has strengthened the Gram Raksha Guards and special police officers who are being given modern weapons, with self-loading rifles replacing old .303 rifles.
Issuing a stern warning to foreign terrorists infiltrating into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border, the home minister said, “The security grid is being built in such a way that anybody (terrorist) who wants to come here from anywhere will have to meet his end at the hands of our army and police personnel in these hills.” Shah also took a dig at National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who had said that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru should not be hanged. “If this is the situation, what will happen after his government is formed? Stone pelting will start again, there will be funerals of terrorists.
