Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the Congress and its allies are hatching a scheme to have a separate Constitution for Kashmir, and making all efforts for restoration of Article 370.
“Will the people of Maharashtra support the Congress and its allies who speak the language of Pakistan,” Modi said, addressing a rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for the November 20 state assembly elections.
“Congress and its colleagues have passed a resolution to restore Article 370,” he said.
“When we made Kashmir free from Article 370, Congress opposed this in Parliament and court. Now they are again hatching a scheme to restore Article 370 and have a separate Constitution in Kashmir,” Modi said.
"Kashmir is an integral part of India. Every Indian wants that there should be only Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution in Kashmir," Modi said.
“The Congress used to say that reservations were against the country. It considered reservations were against merit. The mentality and agenda of the Congress remains unchanged. Therefore, they can't come to terms with the fact that someone from OBC has been the PM of the country for the last 10 years,” he said.
“The Prince of Congress, while he is abroad, openly claims that his party will scrap reservations. To further their agenda, Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi are conspiring to divide SCs, STs and OBCs into small castes,” he said.
Modi also said the BJP-led Mahayuti government renamed Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and fulfilled the wish of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. “The whole Maharashtra knows that the demand to rename this city as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was raised by Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said.
The Congress party went to the court to overturn this decision, he added. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power for two-and-a-half years but did not have the courage to rename the city under pressure from the Congress, he said.
“This election in Maharashtra is not just an election to elect a new government. In this election, on one side there are patriots who believe in Sambhaji Maharaj and on the other side there are people who praise Aurangzeb,” Modi said.
“BJP-Mahayuti ahe, tar gati ahe, Maharashtrachi pragati ahe (If there is Mahayuti there is progress in Maharashtra),” Modi said.
The people of Maharashtra and Marathwada had been demanding for decades to give classical language status to Marathi, Modi said. This work related to Marathi pride was completed by the BJP, he added.
“Maharashtra has attracted the maximum FDI after the formation of the Mahayuti government. The people have benefited due to the investment,” he said.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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