Taking a dig at the Congress, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the country witnessed bomb blasts at regular intervals under earlier regimes, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi put an end to terrorism and left wing extremism in the last 10 years.
Addressing a poll meeting at Aska parliamentary constituency in southern Odisha, he said Modi has always given befitting reply to Pakistan-sponsored terrorists by way of surgical strikes or air strikes.
“Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra were affected by outlawed left wing extremism (LWE). But the situation has been reversed due to prompt intervention by the Modi government since 2014,” he said.
After dwelling on the national security perspective, Shah launched a blistering attack on BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik by saying that the government here is run by a non-Odia bureaucrat, in an indirect hint towards V.K.Pandian, the Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat-turned-politician, the second-in-command of the regional party.
The BJP top leaders, in poll rallies in Odisha had earlier targeted Patnaik for hurting Odia pride, his lack of knowledge of Odia language and culture and leveled charges of administration being outsourced to a select group of non-Odia bureaucrats.
People voted for BJD. But is CM Naveen Patnaik running the Government? Here the bureaucrat babus are running Govt. Navven Ji, you wanted to hand over governance to babus, it would have been better to hand over to Odia babu instead of a non-Odia. In Navven Patnaik’s governance, the great Odia language, culture nurtured over the years by great Odias has become an object of neglect.
Raking up the Odia Ashmita (pride) issue further, Shah said “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in sharp contrast to Patnaik, has tried everything to ensure that Odia pride is restored.
Elaborating Modi government’s intent on laying due recognition to Odia culture, he listed out Centre;s initiatives of showcasing the Konark Sun temple wheel as the backdrop of the G20 meeting, Odia daughter Droupadi Murmu becoming the President of India and the release of a commemorative stamp and coin on the famous Paika rebellion.
Raising the issue of the missing key of Lord Jaganath temple’s Ratna Bhandar, Shah questioned “where is the original key? Who made the duplicate key? Where is the inquiry report? Whom your (Naven Patnaik) Government is protecting? We will make public the Ratna Bhandar inquiry report findings within 6 days of coming to power in Odisha”
Shah also accused Patnaik of doing precious little to check large-scale migration of Odia youths despite remaining in power in Odisha for almost 25 years.