Election in Haryana 2019: J&K, Ladakh are moving on the path of trust and development: PM Modi (File)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked the Congress to explain its "love for Article 370" to the families of security personnel who were killed in the line of duty in Jammu and Kashmir.

PM Modi also dared the Congress to declare that it will reverse his government's decision to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir if voted to power.

Addressing the first of his planned four election meetings in Haryana, PM Modi also raised the Rafale jet issue.

"India is taking big decisions, which no one could think of earlier," he said, referring to the BJP government's move in Kashmir.

PM Modi said there was a feeling in Haryana and the entire country that Jammu and Kashmir needed to be pulled out of the spiral of violence and put on the path of development.

"Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are moving on the path of trust and development and the credit for this does not go to Modi, but to 130 crore people of this country and voters of this country," he said.

"You gave us a big mandate and I derive strength from you to realise your dreams," he said.

"The entire country is also seeing that people whose interests were affected by the decision on Article 370 are in a state of shock," he said.

"These people are raising questions on this decision and seeking help in foreign nations," he added, in an apparent dig at the Congress.

"Ask those mothers how many sons of the soil lost their lives because of your love for Article 370... ask how many were widowed and how many children were orphaned," he said.

"Congress leaders must tell those who lost their dear ones for peace in Kashmir, why they love Article 370 so much. They must tell in what way this Article benefited the state," he said.

PM Modi accused the Congress of doing vote bank politics over the triple talaq issue, alleging the opposition parties made "every kind of excuse" to stall the law against the practice.



"Congress and other parties like them stood like a wall in the way of each betterment and change you have seen," PM Modi said.

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi brought up the Rafale deal issue, the Prime Minister alleged that the opposition made their "best efforts" to ensure the agreement for fighter jets was cancelled.



"You remember, during Lok Sabha polls, how they made a hue and cry over the Rafale deal. They were beating their chests and made their best efforts to ensure that the agreement for Rafale was cancelled," he said.

PM Modi accused the previous Congress government of putting Tejas project, the home-built jet, on the back burner.

"Don't know (it was done) under whose pressure. Our government has removed all the bottlenecks and gave wings to this project," he said.