Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday while addressing campaign rallies in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh, attacked the ruling Congress party in the state. He said that the Congress had become a laughing club and had done nothing but spread corruption in the state.
Himachal Pradesh faces the assembly elections on 9 Nov and the results will be announced on 18 Dec. Ahead of the polls both BJP and Congress is trying hard to pull the other party down. While Modi was addressing rallies in Kangra and Paonta Sahib, Congress was holding rallies in the state capital in Shimla. Congress once again came up with names for the Prime Minister, calling him the vinaash ka daanav (demon of destruction).
Congress media department in charge Randeep Surjewala said, “Vinaash ke daanav aaj devbhoomi aaye hain, lekin Congress hee jeeti hai aur Congress hee jeetegi (Demon of destruction has come to Himachal Pradesh today but Congress has won and Congress will win here).”
It is not the first time that the Congress has given names to Modi, earlier also ahead of the 2007 assembly polls in Gujarat, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had called him “maut ka saudagar”. This came in the wake of the riots that broke out in Gujarat in 2002 and taking advantage of this Congress was hoping to target BJP and pull the party down, however, it happened otherwise and Congress faced a miserable defeat. Earlier Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had also talked about “Khoon ki dalali” and was panned as the Congress was seen as stoking passions ahead of elections.
But then the party had refrained from using any terms for Narendra Modi as it felt that the electorate was not really liking the personal attack on the BJP leader, however, Congress has adopted its old tradition and once again gave him the name of Vinaash ke daanav.
Counter attacking Narendra Modi, Surjewala said that “Vinaash ke daanav aaj aaye hain. Woh devbhoomi ko daanavbhoomi banaa ke jaayenge (Demons of destruction have come today. They will make land of Gods (reference to Himachal Pradesh) into land of demons).”
When he was questioned that by giving names like this was the party trying to stir repulsion ahead of the polls, Surjewala only replied that “I did not attribute ‘vinaash ka daanav’ to one person. It can be your own deduction. It should be taken as a representative fight between vinaash ke daanav and our ideas of development and secularism.”
He also mocked that when BJP was in power n Himachal the state was up for sale. He said that when Prem Kumar Dhumal, BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate was the CM of Himachal his own party member and supporters had put boards of ‘Himachal for sale. He further alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come to the state to do exactly the same- sell Himachal.
He also called Narendra Modi a jumla babu saying that the Prime Minister was known for making false promises. He also alleged that Narendra Modi discriminated against the hill states including Himachal Pradesh and called the Modi government as “anti-hill states. In his statement to the reporters Surjewala said that the Jhumla Babu is once again back in the state, trying to fool the people with his false promises, but this time the people will give him and the BJP and befitting reply during the elections.
Attacking Modi for not fulfilling his promises, the Congress spokesperson said that he had taken away the special category status from Himachal in 2015 and also did not keep up his promise of raising import duty on apples or laying the railway line from Mandi to Leh. He also pointed out the failure of the Central government regarding the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN) scheme between Shimla and Delhi.
The Congress leader also alleged the BJP and Modi for making the lives of the common people more very tough as the prices of everything were rising. Taking a dig at BJP’s allegations of corruption, Surjewala asked the party to explain the reasons for the phenomenal increase in the turnover of the company of Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah and that also only after Modi became the Prime Minister.
Modi, attacking Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh had time and again said that the Congress government in the state was on bail. Responding to these remarks Surjewala said that cases were also pending against the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur in the Supreme Court.
Attacking the decisions of GST and demonization of Modi, the Congress leader alleged that these decisions were undemocratic and had drastically hurt the economy of India. He also accused the BJP of misusing the power it enjoyed and sais that the election in Himachal, was between the money power of the BJP and the dedicated workers of the Congress.
Surjewala also accused that the NDA government was misusing its ruling power and were influencing investigating agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to “hijack” the mandate in Himachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also accused the Prime Minister of misusing money and power to win the assembly elections in the state. He also said that he had no funds to fight the elections as all his bank accounts were seized by ED and CBI.
Addressing a gathering at Nurpur, Virbhadra Singh said that “Modi ji, you come to Himachal hundred times, we welcome you. But I can tell you, I haven’t seen (in my life) such a public display and misuse of power and money as you and the BJP are doing in Himachal Pradesh polls.” He further claimed that he was not scared of the misuse of the power and money that the BJp is doing and they are wrong if they thought they could scare him away with these tactics.
The Chief Minister also alleged that the Prime Minister used indecent language during his address. “I have seen PMs earlier also, but everyone spoke a language which was decent and didn’t cross certain limits. But today, you (Modi) went beyond those limits…If you want to finish us by using scare of power that will only strengthen our resolve to fight back and emerge stronger,” he said.
Even Virbhadra Singh brought up the case of Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah questioning as to why no investigation was ordered against him till now and added that the law should be equal to all.
The Chief Minister on Friday also took a toll on the BJP taking it to Twitter. Virbhadra Singh tweeted that “@DhumalHP Ji, your remarks on BJP’s supposed fight against corruption made me laugh. Last time I saw, your own sons were out on bail, the main achievement is ‘ease of doing corruption’. @AmitShah & son’s miracle of 16,000 times lucre hike happens only in BJP rule. BJP’s fear of real Vikas, as being witnessed in Himachal Pradesh today, is the reason why personal attacks on me is your main agenda.”
Ur party’s main achievement is ‘ease of doing corruption’. @AmitShah & son’s miracle of 16,000 times lucre hike happens only in BJP rule.2/4
— Pratibha Virbhadra Singh (@virbhadrasingh) November 3, 2017
He also angrily attacked BJP reminding how the party had chosen the joyous day of his daughter’s marriage to conduct the CBI raids.