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Updated: Apr 17, 2019 19:49 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing an election rally at Himmatnagar in Gujarat on Wednesday, said that the UPA government had tried to topple the then Gujarat government and had falsely implicated and jailed the now BJP president Amit Shah and Gujarati police officers.

In an indirect reference to the alleged fake encounter cases, including the Sohrabbudin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan, Modi said, “From 2004 to 2014, a remote controlled government ruled from Delhi. And, who had this remote-control in hand?... In that 10 years didn’t Delhiwale cause maximum possible loss to Gujarat? Didn’t they treat Gujarat as if it was not a part of Hindustan? Didn’t they falsely implicate our police officers and our Amitbhai Shah and put them behind bars?”

He added, “Didn’t they leave a single stone unturned to topple the Gujarat government? They employed every possible trick in the book to destroy Gujarat in those 10 years. Should they be given another chance? Should we give them any opportunity? And, now it is all the more problematic. Because they are out on bail. They have a problem that how can a chaiwala challenge a family whose four generations have ruled. The whole family is out on bail. In five years, I have brought them to jail gate. In 2019, I will put them behind bars.”

The Himmatnagar rally in north Gujarat was the second public address by the PM since the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced. All 26 seats of Gujarat will go to poll in the third phase of elections on April 23.

Bringing up the issue of terrorism and the air-strike at Balakot in Pakistan, Modi said, “You tell me, in the Pulwama massacre...our brave soldiers were killed. Wouldn’t the Congress have used the incident to defame Modi in the entire country? But, Modi did air strike, used planes to bomb and destroy everything (at Balakot).”

He further said, “(They) killed our soldiers in Uri. Should Modi remain silent? Does it make him comfortable? I am raised by the soil of Gujarat... this is the land of Sardar Saheb... and we did a surgical strike. Our soldiers went, destroyed them (terror camps in Pakistan) but it troubled the Congress.”