Union Home Minister Amit Shah greets the supporters during the Vijay Sankalp Sabha for the Rajasthan Assembly elections, at Masuda, in Ajmer on Friday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the ruling Congress in Rajasthan had crossed all limits of appeasement politics in order to protect its vote bank. The State had been turned into a “land of riots”, where innocent persons were killed and radical outfits were given a free hand, Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Shah was addressing election rallies at Bijainagar and Nasirabad in Ajmer district. He also took part in a road show in Ajmer city ahead of the State Assembly election. Criticising the Congress government, he said it had brought Rajasthan to the top position in terms of crime, appeasement, corruption, inflation index and atrocities on women and Dalits.
Mr. Shah said not a single word came out of the mouths of Congress leaders when tailor Kanhaiya Lal was brutally murdered in broad daylight in Udaipur last year. “If Congress comes back to power in this election, organisations such as the banned Popular Front of India will get a free hand. Rajasthan will never be safe in the Congress rule,” he said.
The Home Minister questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s repeated calls to carry out the caste census for counting the OBC population. He said the Congress was the “biggest opponent” of the OBCs’ welfare, which was proved by its opposition to the Mandal Commission’s recommendations and suppression of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission’s report for years. In contrast, the Narendra Modi government had given constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, he said.
Mr. Shah alleged that the Congress had turned Rajasthan into an ATM, where its leaders from Delhi swiped cards to withdraw money. Calling upon the people to vote for the BJP, he said every single vote would be useful for the formation of a double-engine government in the State. “When you cast your vote, don’t think it will just choose an MLA. It will serve a larger purpose.”
Referring to the “red diary” allegedly containing the details of illegal transactions of Congress leaders, Mr. Shah said the scale of corruption during the last five years of Congress rule had exceeded the total proceeds of the scams during the tenures of all governments in the State since Independence.
“I wish to ask what did the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government do for Rajasthan in its 10 years of power at the Centre. They sent only ₹1.10 lakh crore to the State, whereas the Modi government has sent ₹8.71 lakh crore in nine years,” Mr. Shah said, adding that the Congress, which kept accounts in the red diary, did not have the capability to develop the State.