Vansda, Gujarat: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday called AAP an 'urban Naxal party' and said Maoist menace would raise its head in the region if the opposition candidate won from Valsad Lok Sabha seat.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is fighting the Gujarat polls in alliance with the Congress, which has fielded its Vansda (ST) MLA Anant Patel from Valsad.
Addressing a rally in support of BJP candidate Dhaval Patel in Vansda, Shah said, "The Congress and urban Naxal party AAP have come together to disturb the peace of this tribal region. Do you want extortion to start in Valsad? Will you allow Naxalism to raise its head in our forest areas?"
"Naxalism and urban naxalism will begin here if their candidate wins," Shah asserted.
Shah claimed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'misinformation' about the vaccination drive during the coronavirus pandemic led to the death of many tribals.
"Rahul asked tribals not to take the vaccine and termed it as Modi vaccine. However, both brother and sister (Priyanka Gandhi) secretly took the vaccine in the night. They were not ashamed of playing politics during the times of Covid-19," he alleged.
"Several tribal youths who believed in the misinformation spread by Rahul lost their lives (as they did not take the vaccine)," claimed Shah.
He said the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc wanted to snatch quotas of SC, STs and OBCs and give it to Muslims, like it did in Telangana and Karnataka.
The BJP will end this Muslim quota and give back its benefits to Dalits, STs and OBCs, he asserted.
Taking a jibe at the Congress leader for contesting from Wayanad and Raebareli Lok Sabha seats, Shah said, unlike Chandrayaan that landed successfully on the south pole of the moon, 'Rahul Yaan' had failed to launch 20 times in the past.
"Sonia Gandhi launched 'Rahul Yaan' for the 21st time yesterday but it will fail again," he said in an apparent reference to the Congress leader filing nomination from family bastion Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
Published 04 May 2024, 12:20 IST