Under attack from the Congress for his remarks on predecessor Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday warned the party that he had a detailed dossier on them.
“Mein Congress ke logon se kehta hoon: jabaan sambhaal kar rakho, warna mere paas aapki poori janam patri padi hui hai (hold your tongue, I have your entire horoscope). Mein vivek aur maryadayein chhorna nahin chahta hoon, lekin agar aap vivek, maryadayein chhor kar ke anaap shanaap baaten karoge to aapko aapka itihas kabhi chhorega nahin, aapke kukarm aapko chhorenge nahin, aapka paap aapko chhodenge nahin (I do not want to abandon reason and propriety, but if you abandon reason and propriety and speak nonsense, your history will always chase you, your evil deeds, your sins will always chase you),” Modi told an election rally in Haridwar.
His remarks came two days after he targeted Manmohan Singh over corruption under his watch. Replying to a Rajya Sabha debate on the President’s address, Modi on Wednesday said: “Bathroom mein raincoat pehen kar ke nahana, yeh kala to Doctor Saab hi jaante hain aur koi nahin jaanta hai (Only Dr Saab knows the art of bathing while wearing a raincoat in the bathroom).”
Starting his campaign in Uttarakhand, a state with a sizeable number of serving and retired servicemen, the Prime Minister also attacked the Congress for questioning the surgical strikes by the Army on the Line of Control. He mentioned a report in The Indian Express, confirming the strikes.
“When the surgical strike took place, our jawans crossed the border, entered their home in the dark of the night… the soldiers of my country inflicted massive injuries on them. It was a wonder for the world,” he said, adding that “military experts are studying it”.
The strikes, he said, have been recorded as a “great event of valour” but the Congress is “pained that how it took place, why did they not come to know”. “Should I have held a meeting, called an all-party conference before conducting surgical strikes? Should I have asked them whether I should take the right or left turn?” he said.
“You have to trust the Army, just tell them this: Aap hain, Hindustan hai, dushmano ka maidan hai… khel aapke haath hai, aur woh karke dikhate hain. Our Army destroyed the terrorist camps.” He said The Indian Express published a report which stated that the morning after the surgical strikes, Pakistani trucks carted away bodies.
Criticising the Congress for questioning the strikes, he said: “Their first question was: how many Indian soldiers died? The Army of the country conducted surgical strikes and you questioned it? You have insulted the country’s Army… you have insulted the brave mothers who gave birth to such brave children,” he said.
EVEN WE’VE MODI, SHAH’S ‘KUNDLI’: SHIV SENA
In a sharp reaction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warning to Congressmen that he had prepared dossiers on them, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday warned that even he had the “horoscopes” of both Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
“Everybody who is born has a ‘janam patrika’ (horoscope). The PM must not forget this. Even we have his and Amit Shah’s ‘janam kundli’,” he said.
Thackeray said “never before has any Indian PM stooped to such levels” in politics. “All he does is mock and ridicule leaders of other parties but now people are tired of this. During the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls, he addressed 27 rallies in this state. So I demanded he should come here even for the BMC polls,” he said.
Alleging that they (BJP leaders) are “liars, who are not interesting in anything but grabbing power”, Thackeray said this was the reason he decided to break the alliance with the BJP for the civic polls and would henceforth fight all elections independently.
Asked how the Shiv Sena continued with the ruling alliance in the Centre and Maharashtra, he countered: “Have they asked us to get out? If they don’t like us, they can leave. But they are stuck. We will decide our future course after the civic elections here.”
Asked whether the war with BJP has entered a new dimension with his party praising the Congress, Thackeray said, “I was only appreciating the good work they have done all these years,” he said.
