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HP Polls: BJP fulfils its promises, unlike others: Rajnath Singh
Cornering Congress over corruption, defence minister Rajnath Singh said in the UPA regime many central ministers were sent to jail over corruption charges
In the political history of Independent India, people lost trust in the leaders and political parties due to differences in their “deeds and words,” said defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday as he raked up Ram Mandir, Article 370, CAA and surgical strikes to raise the poll pitch in Himachal.
Asserting that he will not criticize any political leader or a party but will put some truths before the public, Singh said the BJP took this “trust deficit” as a challenge and overcame it by doing “what it promised”.
People don’t know, the defence minister said, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 and 2019 elections said that “We should make only those promises which we can fulfil”.
“Pick up BJP’s 2019 manifesto, hadn’t we promised to scrap Article 370, and we did it,” said Singh addressing a poll rally in the Arki assembly segment of Solan district.
He also addressed two more rallies in Kangra’s Jaisinghpur and Dehra assembly segments.
Singh said that BJP had also promised if voted to power and if it had a majority, to bring legislation (Citizenship Amendment Bill or CAA) to grant citizenship to people — whether Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jews or Parsi — who are oppressed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“I as a home minister had moved the CAA in Parliament. It got passed in Lok Sabha but was rejected in Rajya Sabha. Amit Shah brought this bill again, and it was passed by both the houses of Parliament,” he said.
Isn’t it true, he said, that terrorism has declined in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370?
“I am not saying that terrorism has been eliminated entirely, but it has definitely brought down their morale,” he said.
Singh said Pakistan sponsors cross-border terrorism, but after the Uri and Pulwama attacks, the Prime Minister took a quick decision. “Our armed forces responded by carrying out surgical and air strikes and eliminated the terrorists in their territory”.
He said earlier, India was among the top 10 importers of arms. “After PM Modi gave a slogan of ‘Make in India-Make for the World’, we have emerged as top 25 exporters, and by 2025, this export would touch ₹40,000 crore,” Singh said.
Speaking about inflation, Singh said in the UPA regime inflation had crossed double digits, while the BJP government has managed to keep it in single digits despite the world countries facing economic crisis in the aftermath of the Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Singh said India has jumped to the fifth position in terms of economy and expressed confidence that “in the next 10 years, we will be among the top three countries and the biggest economy by 2047.”
“On the cultural front, he said, nobody had ever thought that Ram Mandir would be ever built. Today, a magnificent Ram Mandir is coming up at Ayodhya,” he said, adding that we (BJP) have also rebuilt Kashi Vishwanath, Somnath, Badrinath, Kedarnath and the Mahakal temple of Ujjain.
Cornering Congress over corruption, Singh said in the UPA regime many central ministers were sent to jail over corruption charges. “In eight years, no minister has faced any corruption charges. And, if it happens PM Modi will take no time to shunt out such a person from his cabinet,” he said.
Hailing chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, the defence minister said no one can raise questions about his integrity and politeness.
Singh said that if a leader from Himachal becomes a national president of a political party, it is only possible in the BJP.
“Our two PMs (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee jee and (Narendra) Modi jee had an emotional attachment with Himachal. Congress ruled for a long and had many stalwart leaders but such importance was never given to Himachal,” he said.
Appealing to people to vote for BJP, Singh said, “Uttarakhand has changed the “Rivaz” and now it’s Himachal’s turn,” he said.
People raise ‘We want PoK’ slogans
DHARAMSHALA: The audience during Rajnath Singh’s rally at Jaisinghpur of Kangra district raised slogans of “PoK Chahiye (We want PoK)”, to which the union defence minister told people to “keep patience”.
It is worth mentioning that Singh, in a speech on the occasion of Shaurya Diwas in Kashmir said that Pakistan will have to pay the price for what it has done in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“Modi government has started the development of Kashmir, and it won’t stop until we reach Gilgit-Baltistan,” he had said.
