Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the prince of the INDI alliance, Rahul Gandhi, started off the Lok Sabha elections with the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ but will conclude it with the ‘Congress Dhoondho Yatra’ after the election results are announced on June 4.

Addressing a public meeting in Bareilly in support of BJP candidate Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Shah said: “The Congress is nowhere to be seen even through binoculars in the first two phases of the election. This election is all about propelling the country’s economy to become the third-largest globally and making three crore ‘lakhpati didis’. This election will play a decisive role in eradicating terrorism and Naxalism in the country,” he declared.

Shah alleged that while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav wants to become the Chief Minister Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wants her son Rahul Gandhi to become the Prime Minister. The irony is that these people cannot do any good to the public, he added.

Shah questioned the people whether Ram temple should have been constructed in Ayodhya or not. He accused the Congress of stalling the issue of Ram Temple for 70 years. However, after Narendra Modi secured his second term as the Prime Minister, he cleared all the hurdles, paving the way for the inauguration of the Ram Temple on January 22.

He said that invitations were sent to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, yet none of them attended the grand event, fearing a potential loss of their vote bank. These people consistently engage themselves in politics of appeasement, he claimed.

Shah said, “Congressmen preserved Article 370 for 70 years. Narendra Modi abolished it. Modi has diligently worked towards liberating the nation from terrorism. Previously, a Congress government, supported by SP-BSP, was in power. During the 10-year tenure of the Sonia-Manmohan government, incidents of terrorism, facilitated by infiltrators like Alia, Malia, and Jamalia, were rampant. They used to enter the country and carry out bomb blasts. There was minimal response. However, post-2014, when Pakistan attempted incursions in Uri and Pulwama, they forgot that the Prime Minister was now Modi, not Manmohan Singh. In just 10 days, we entered Pakistan and eliminated the terrorists by carrying out surgical and air strikes”.

Shah said that the current government has worked to secure the country by vaccinating 130 crore people with both doses of Covid vaccines.

The Home Minister said that under the SP government, the entire UP was marred by riots. “There were massive riots in Bareilly in 2010 and 2012. Both SP and Congress did not stand with the people of Bareilly. The BJP government assumed office in 2017 and Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister. He worked hard to make UP riot-free. While there was significant migration from West UP during the SP rule, now there is migration of goons in Yogiraj,” he said.

He said that the SP and Congress are family parties. Yadav community considers Akhilesh Yadav as their leader, but Akhilesh himself is contesting election from Kannauj. Dimple is from Mainpuri, Akshay from Firozabad, Aditya from Badaun and Dharmendra Yadav from Azamgarh.

He said that during the SP’s tenure, there were factories making desi kattas in UP. Today, in place of guns, a factory for making cannons and missiles has been established, which will provide shells to Pakistan.

Shah will also address election meetings in Badaun and Sitapur. In the evening, he will hold party workers’ meeting in Lucknow.