Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday threw a challenge at Opposition parties, especially the Congress to bring back Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. He alleged that for the sake of power, the opposition had built the wall of 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a public rally in Udhampur, PM Modi said that statehood will be granted to Jammu and Kashmir with the blessings of people he had demolished the wall of Article 370 and buried it.
"For the sake of power, they had built a wall of 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Due to your blessings, Modi demolished the wall of Article 370. I have also buried the debris of that wall in the ground. I challenge any political party in India, especially Congress, to announce that they will bring back Article 370," the prime minister said.
"This country won't even look at them," the PM said.
He further accused the opposition of spreading confusion among the people regarding the abrogation of Article 370, and said, "They used to say that if Article 370 is removed, there will be fire and Jammu and Kashmir will leave us. But the youth of Jammu and Kashmir showed them the mirror."
"Now, when they did not succeed here, the people of Jammu and Kashmir came to know their reality, so these people are now playing the game of spreading confusion among the people of the country outside Jammu and Kashmir. They say that the country did not get any benefit from the removal of Article 370," he added.
Dismissing the opposition's claim that the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was an election issue for the BJP, PM Modi said that the struggle for the Ram Mandir had been going on since the time BJP was not even born.
"These family-oriented parties are against development as well as against legacy. Congress says that Ram Mandir is an election issue for the BJP. Ram Mandir was not an election issue, nor is it and nor will it be. The struggle for Ram Mandir has been going on since the time BJP was not even born. The struggle for Ram Mandir is 500 years old when there was no trace of elections," he said.
The Prime Minister said the leaders of Congress and its allies lived in big bunglows while Ram Lalla was in a tent.
The Prime Minister said that in the last decade, Jammu and Kashmir have completely changed as roads, electricity, water, travel, and migration, all are available.
"In the 10 years, we have tightened the noose around terrorists and corrupt people. Now in the coming five years, this area has to be taken to new heights of development. Within 10 years, Jammu and Kashmir has completely changed. Roads, electricity, water, travel, migration, all these are there. But the biggest thing is that the mind of Jammu and Kashmir has changed," he said.
"In 2014, I had returned after visiting Mata Vaishno Devi and on this very ground, I had guaranteed you that I will free you from whatever several generations of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered. Today, with your blessings, Modi has fulfilled that guarantee," the Prime Minister said.
"This is the first election after decades, when terrorism, separatism, stone pelting, bandhs, strikes, cross-border firing are not election issues. Then whether it was the Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra or the Amarnath Yatra, the concern was about how to conduct these in a safe manner. Today the situation has completely changed. Today, development is taking place in Jammu and Kashmir and confidence is also increasing," he said.
"That is why today, from every nook and corner of Jammu and Kashmir, only one echo is being heard - Ek baar phir Modi Sarkar. (Modi Government once again)." The Prime Minister was in Udhampur to support the campaign of Union Minister and BJP candidate Jitendra Singh who has been representing the constituency since 2014. Singh had defeated former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad from Udhampur in 2014.
The Congress has fielded Choudhary Lal Singh from Udhampur. The Congress took Lal Singh back into its fold six years after he was forced to resign following his participation in a rally held in support of the Kathua rape accused, in which a child was raped. The Peoples Democratic Party, partner in the INDIA bloc, has extended their support to Lal Singh.
Udhampur will vote in the first phase on April 19. The BJP had won three out of six seats in Jammu and Kashmir in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The National Conference won the remaining three seats.
—ANI