india

Updated: Feb 24, 2019 22:12 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only person who can give a befitting reply to Pakistan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said on Sunday, blaming India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, for the Kashmir issue.

In Jammu, Shah paid tributes to the 40 troopers killed in a suicide attack on February 14 in Pulwama.

Addressing the BJP’s booth-level workers, he also said his party would ensure that every illegal immigrant from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is thrown out of the country in line with the model in Assam, where a process in underway to identify illegal settlers, especially those from Bangladesh.

“The country is faced with various security issues...Only Modi can give security to the country, take it forward to make it a world power and has the capability and capacity to give a befitting reply to Pakistan,” Shah said, alleging the Opposition does not have any leader.

Hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Shah said the “if there is the problem of Jammu and Kashmir” it is because of Nehru, who is Rahul Gandhi’s great grandfather. Shah alleged that Nehru took the matter in his own hands and sidelined then home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, “who addressed problems of more complex in nature like Hyderabad within days”.

“...but don’t worry, this is not the Congress government...and our resolve is that we will not allow it (Jammu and Kashmir) to separate from India,” he said, adding that the BJP government has “zero-tolerance on terrorism”.

J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmed Mir rejected Shah’s comments on Nehru, saying, “They should talk about today’s India. Since the rise of Modi and Shah, they have been relying on this rhetoric. They should talk of present times.”