STATE TIMES NEWS
Ballia (UP): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday asserted that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir “was, is and will remain ours” while also hitting out at the opposition parties for raking up the China issue.
Accusing the opposition parties of spreading confusion on the China issue, he said, “India has not lost anything. We will not let India lose anything. Talks are ongoing … we are confident that a solution will be found.”
Addressing an election rally in Ballia’s Sikandarpur in support of the BJP’s Salempur candidate Ravindra Kushwaha, Singh also asserted, “Pakistan Occupied Kashmir was ours, is ours and will remain ours.”
He claimed that after four phases of elections, political analysts not only in India but across the world believe that the BJP is going to form the government by winning more than 400 seats.
Singh also launched an attack on INDIA bloc partners AAP, Samajwadi Party and the Congress and committed to implementing a uniform civil code.
“We will implement a uniform civil code, that is our commitment. We do not work against any religion. Everyone living in the country — be it Hindus, Muslims, Christians or Jews — are our brothers. I am talking about a uniform civil code because it is one of the policy-making principles of the Constitution,” he said.
Attacking the opposition parties over claims that Modi is seeking 400 seats in the Lok Sabha so that the BJP can change the Constitution, Singh recalled the Emergency period under the Congress rule and said, “You strangled democracy and are blaming us. No one can end democracy.”
The defence minister also accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of making whatever allegations that come to their minds against the BJP.
“The bicycle’s (the Samajwadi Party election symbol) chain has come off,” he said.
He also compared the Congress with dinosaurs and said the grand old party will become extinct.
“The condition of the Congress has become so weak that if after 10 years you say ‘Congress’, people will ask ‘who Congress?’ Just as dinosaurs became extinct from the face of the earth, the Congress will become extinct from India,” Singh said. He also hit out at AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the alleged assault of party MP Swati Maliwal at his residence.
Salempur goes to the polls in the last phase of the elections on June 1.
