Mention Patel and a Cong family loses sleep, says Prime Minister

Kalaburagi / Ballari: Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the names of Field Marshal K M

Cariappa

and General

Thimayya

, the pride of Karnataka, to accuse the Congress of disrespecting soldiers and and martyrs.

Clad in a ‘Mysuru Peta’, Modi addressed a huge gathering of BJP workers on NV Ground in the city on Thursday. He alleged that the Congress has no regard for martyrs. Reinvoking the surgical strike operation of 2016, Modi said that the Congress questioned the veracity of these strikes. “When our brave soldiers conducted a surgical strike behind enemy lines, a newspaper reported that the bodies of enemies were transported in trucks in Pakistan. The Congress shamelessly asked me to produce proof of the surgical strike. I would like to ask my Kalaburagi brothers and sisters? Do you need proof? Should I send my brave soldiers with cameras or guns?” he questioned.

Without naming AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, Modi accused Rahul of disrespecting Vande Mataram, the national song. Modi said it is difficult to expect those who disrespect Vande Mataram to be patriotic. “The way Congress behaved with Field Marshal Cariappa after the Indo-China war in 1962 should never be forgotten. Even after the surgical strike, a senior Congress leader called our present army chief a ‘Goonda.’ The Congress has neither asked the leader to apologize nor removed him from the party,” he alleged.

Modi said that Sardar Vallabhai Patel made Kalaburagi a part of the country when Hyderabad-Karnataka was under the rule of the Nizams of Hyderabad. “What the British did in Jallianwala Bagh, the Nizams unleashed in Gorta village in Bidar district. The people built a memorial at the village. The Congress could have built it but it did not. It is because wherever the name of Patel crops up, a particular family in the Congress gets disturbed. Congress leaders also run away whenever the name of Patel is mentioned,” he alleged. You can tolerate summer heat but not Congress government.”

‘Cong govt insensitive to tur dal growers’

Modi said that Kalaburagi is known as ‘Tur Bowl of Karnataka.’ The Centre prepared a roadmap for tur dal production. Though the Centre announced MSP, the Karnataka government has not passed on the benefits to growers,” he said. Accusing the Congress of poor implementation of Fasal Bima Yojna, Modi said the Centre will ensure that Karnataka farmers reap the benefits of the scheme.

‘We made a Muslim

President’

In Ballari, Modi said the BJP elevated APJ Abdul Kalam, a Muslim, to the highest post of President. “When we got power for the second time, we elevated a Dalit to the same post. It is BJP, which installed a tea vendor, belonging to OBC, as PM. Some people always say BJP is North Indian, pro-Hindi party and anti-woman party. They should note that BJP elevated a South Indian leader M Venkaiah Naidu as vice president. By elevating Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister we prove how we treat women as equals. It should be noted that both Naidu and Sitharaman represented Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, he underlined.