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Lok Sabha elections 2019: In East Delhi, Rajnath invokes terror, national security
Rajnath Singh and other leaders’ speeches centred on national security issues, such as Pulwana terror attack, Balakot strike and China’s decision to withdraw its opposition to declaring Masood Azhar a global terrorist.
Criticising the Opposition for asking proof of the Balakot air strike, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that “soldiers do not count the bodies, vultures do.”
Campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) East and North East Delhi Lok Sabha candidates — Manoj Tiwari and Gautam Gambhir— in Shastri Park on Wednesday, Rajnath said, “Had only two or four were killed it would have been easier to tell the count. But when the number is higher, it is difficult to give a count… That was probably the biggest operation against terror in the world. It is shameful that the Opposition is doubting the might of our forces.”
Singh and other leaders’ speeches centred on national security issues, such as Pulwana terror attack, Balakot strike and China’s decision to withdraw its opposition to declaring Masood Azhar a global terrorist.
Singh also spoke about the Narendra Modi-led Union government’s efforts in curbing Maoist and terrorist activities.
Referring to the Maoist attack in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, in which 10 soldiers were killed on Tuesday, Singh said, “Previously, 126 districts across the country were affected by Naxalism, but due to the cooperation between the NDA government and our jawans, the number has gone down to 82, of which only eight or nine districts are seriously affected.”
BJP’s North East Delhi candidate and its state unit president, Manoj Tiwari, said that the Modi government believes in “truth and non-violence”. “But the government gives a befitting response when someone attacks us without provocation,” he said.
The turnout at the public meeting was low, with a large number of chairs remained empty throughout. “We had made sitting arrangements for around 3,000 people but the turnout was hardly 1,500,” a BJP worker, requesting anonymity, said.
Cricketer-turned-politician Gambhir also reacted on the Aam Aadmi Party’s claims that he was scared of having a debate with their East Delhi candidate, Atishi. “How can I be scared of a debate when even Pakistan could not scare me? I challenge AAP’s chief to give me half of the years his party had spent in Delhi and then debate with me. And that debate will not be held on social media, but in public,” he said.
It was the first time when a senior BJP leader was campaigning for Gambhir. Introducing him to the people of North East Delhi, Tiwari said, “When I first met him in Patna during a cricket tournament, I realised in an instant that he is a patriot. If needed, he could not just join politics but also fight at the border.”
