‘Man with 56-inch chest did it in one go’: Amit Shah on Article 370 move

india

Updated: Jul 10, 2020 08:05 IST

Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday brought back PM Modi’s “56-inch chest” in the electoral discourse while campaigning for the BJP in Maharashtra.

The Home Minister spotlighted how the previous governments never had the courage shown by the “man with 56-inch chest” in integrating Jammu and Kashmir with the mainstream.

Addressing an election rally in Kolhapur district, Shah said people should question Congress and NCP leaders, when they come to seek votes, whether they support the NDA government’s decision to abrogate the provisions that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

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“After people of the country and Maharashtra voted him for the second term, Modiji did something for which the entire country was waiting for 70 years...he abrogated Article 370 on August 5 and joined Jammu and Kashmir with the country’s mainstream,” Shah said.

Shah blamed the Congress and said the party is responsible for delaying the process of integrating Jammu and Kashmir with India for several years.

“Several governments came and went, several prime ministers came and went, no one had the courage to abrogate Article 370. But, the man with the 56-inch chest scrapped it in one go,” Shah said.

He said during the UPA rule, terrorists from Pakistan used to infiltrate and kill Indian soldiers.

“They used to decapitate our soldiers, but the then prime minister ‘Mouni baba’ Manmohan Singh never used to utter a single word. But after the Uri and Pulwama attacks, Modiji showed the courage of killing terrorists in their den through surgical strike and air strikes,” he said.

He further hit out at the opposition over the government’s decision to ban the practice of triple talaq.

“When we banned triple talaq, they opposed,” he said.

Talking about the devastating floods in Kolhapur and Sangli after heavy rains in August, he assured people that the Centre and the state government will transform both the districts and make them even better and more beautiful.

He said during the previous Congress-NCP regime, Rs 70,000 crore was spent on irrigation, but not a single drop of water reached any village.

“But Devendra Fadnavis, after taking charge as the chief minister (of BJP-led government), spent just Rs 9,000 crore and with the help of the ‘Jalyukta Shivar’ (water conservation) scheme, over 11,000 villages were irrigated,” he said.

Shah claimed that before the Congress-NCP’s rule, Maharashtra topped charts in every field, be it agriculture, mill production, industry or education.

“During 15 years of the Congress-NCP regime, the state’s ranking came below 15. But, during the present Fadnavis government, the state has managed to gain its ranking and in all these fields, the state is in the first five,” he said.

Shah appealed to people to once again vote the Fadnavis government to power so that the state can become no. 1 in every field.

(With PTI inputs)