Defence Minister addresses rallies in Gauchar, Lohaghat & Kashipur
By Our Staff Reporter
Gauchar, 12 Apr: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was on a day long election tour of Uttarakhand today where he addressed three major rallies in Gauchar (District Chamoli), in Lohaghat (District Champawat) and then in Kashipur (District Udham Singh Nagar). In the morning, Rajnath Singh arrived at Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun by a special aircraft from where he took a chopper to reach Gauchar. Addressing the election rally here in support of the BJP candidate from Garhwal (Pauri), Anil Baluni, he criticised the Congress for needlessly targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and reminded the gathering that he has not been the one to personally target any Prime Minister irrespective of whichever party he or she belonged.
Singh said that once the then Prime Minister, Rajeev Gandhi, had conceded very sincerely that only 14 paise out of every rupee sent by the Centre reached the actual beneficiaries. This trend continued till Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister and did what no one could think of before him. Soon after becoming the Prime Minister, he ensured that the Jan Dhan Bank Account was opened of every citizen. Singh said that even he could not fully comprehend in the beginning why PM Modi was insisting on opening bank accounts of every citizen but the benefits that accrued were great.
The Defence Minister reminded that Uttarakhand is a spiritual land and, besides this, it also does the work of securing the country’s borders. The people of this Devbhoomi protect the country by risking their own lives. Singh claimed that the people of Uttarakhand are also dedicated to the service of the nation and, at the same time, PM Modi is also fully committed to serve the country and its people. Seeking the public’s support for the BJP candidate, he said that Anil Baluni has obtained recognition to the Egas festival of Uttarakhand and has brought several other projects to the state.
Rajnath Singh said that, in the past ten years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become a powerful country in the world. India is also well on its way to becoming self-reliant in the field of defence. Earlier, ammunition was imported from abroad. Now it is being manufactured in the country itself. He added that after manufacturing missiles, India is now preparing to manufacture engines for fighter planes. Enumerating the achievements of the Central Government, he said that One Rank One Pension, tap water in every home, Ujjwala gas connections, abrogation of Article 370, abolition of Triple Talaq and construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya are just some of the noteworthy achievements of the BJP Government.
Targeting the Congress, he said that corruption was rampant during the Congress rule. Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked hard to eliminate corruption by opening Jan-Dhan accounts. He called Congress a dinosaur and said that it has reached the verge of extinction. Now the Congress has become so old and fragile that it is no longer able to climb the mountains. Singh also claimed that there is a tussle going on within the Congress clan, that is why all the leaders are leaving one by one. He urged the people to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again by making BJP candidate Anil Baluni victorious. Singh remined that BJP candidate Anil Baluni had, some time ago, expressed concern that accurate information and prediction about cloud bursts in the mountains was not available, due to which there was massive loss of life. On his request, a Doppler Radar has been installed in Pauri thus improving the accuracy of weather predictions in the region.
Singh also referred to government schemes and projects like 33 percent reservation for women, Lakhpati Didi, free Corona vaccine and sarcastically observed that those opposing the state of Uttarakhand and abusing Lord Ram and the Sanatan culture and faith are asking for votes from the public today.
Karnaprayag MLA Anil Nautiyal expressed his gratitude to the guests. On this occasion, MP Tirath Singh Rawat, former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat, Tharali MLA Bhupalram Tamta, Rudraprayag MLA Bharat Chaudhary, Ramesh Gadiya, outgoing Badrinath MLA Rajendra Bhandari, Women Vice President Deepti Rawat, District President Ramesh Maikhuri were present. It was conducted by Lok Sabha convener Vijay Kapruwan.
Later, Singh reached Lohaghat where he addressed a rally in support of BJP candidate for the Almora-Pithoragarh seat Ajay Tamta. Here he claimed that none of the BJP ministers from the Centre had ever to face imprisonment on account of corruption but the Congress ministers had to face imprisonment and serious allegations of corruption.
From Loahghat, Singh flew by chopper to Kashipur in district Udham Singh Nagar and addressed a big rally there in support of Union Minister for Defence and the BJP candidate on Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat, Ajay Bhatt.
After addressing the rally in Kashipur, Singh took off in the chopper for Bareilly from where he flew in a Special Aircraft to New Delhi.