By ARUN PRATAP SINGH
DEHRADUN, 12 FEB: To give edge to the election campaign, Home Minister Amit Shah reached Dehradun to address a public meeting in Raipur. He began his address by apologising to the people for arriving late. He stressed that the delay was due to the weather. Shah said that he belonged to Gujarat, where there was probably not a single house from where the people might not have visited Uttarakhand. He said that people from Gujarat come to Uttarakhand and take back water from Ganga in a brass can with them, many of them have taken Ganga water from Gangotri itself, he added. For every Gujarati including children any mention of Uttarakhand fills them with memories of Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib. Apart from Raipur, Shah also addressed rallies in Sahaspur and Dhanolti. Amit Shah said that he regards Devbhoomi with great reverence as it is also a Veerbhoomi. Uttarakhand has contributed significantly towards the security of the country. Armed forces personnel from Uttarakhand are posted at every border of the country be it Uttarakhand, North East or Punjab. Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that in Uttar Pradesh (UP), all the opposition parties would be wiped out in the assembly elections and in Uttarakhand too, Lotus (BJP’s symbol) would bloom. The dust of other parties will be cleared and the lotus will bloom here too. He reminded that there is no option other than lockdown during the first and second wave of the Corona pandemic. There was no medicine for Corona and the lockdown had to be imposed under compulsion. When the lockdown was imposed, all kind of rumours were spread by the Opposition which claimed that poor people would die of hunger not of Corona, but this did not happen becaue the Modi Government managed the situation and ensured that no one slept hungry. Shah said that the Prime Minister had ensured that 80 crore persons were regularly provided food for two years. Claiming that while leaders from other parties came to Uttarakhand for picnics, BJP leaders came here to work as BJP held Uttarakhand in great reverence. Taking a dig at Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, he said that Priyanka Gandhi was speaking about Char Kaam in respect of Char Dham but she was actually speaking about Daam not Kaam. If Congress Government was formed in Uttarakhand, the Congress leaders would not do any Kaam (work) but take daam (extort money). The MLA would also take commission, the ministers would take commission and the commission would also reach the family in Delhi. Shah added that Priyanka Gandhi was showing lot of concern for the poor. She was foruth generation dynast from the party which had ruled the country for several decades. If Congress had taken care of the poor, then Modi Government would not have been left with the responsibility of ensuring welfare of the poor. Home Minister Amit Shah said that Congress tried hard to divide people and the regions. The Congress was used to create divisions between the hills and the plains, between Garhwal and Kumaon and between the people of different castes and religions. He reminded that when the movement for a separate Uttarakhand was at its peak, Congress was supporting the Samajwadi Government in UP which had ordered firing on youth from the hills in Mussoorie and Khatima and the Congress leaders sitting in Delhi were opposing creation of Uttarakhand. Now that the seprate state was there, Congress leaders had settled Rohingyas in Uttarakhand. On the other hand, BJP was committed to the development of Uttarakhand and apart from the redevelopment of Kedarnath, the plan for Badrinath was also approved. All Weather Road project was in advanced stage of progress and Rishikesh to Karnaprayag Railway Project was also under construction. In seven years of the BJP rule in the country, Prime Minister Modi had spared any effort to ensure rapid progress and welfare of the poor and underprivileged. Not only this, the security of the country had also been strengthened and while during the Congress rule, terrorists and armed forces from across the borders used to kill the Indian Jawans and take their head, they would not dare to even dream of any such thing under BJP rule. Pakistan now had understood that Modi was not Manmohan Singh and when it tried to commit terror acts in India, Modi Government responded very strongly with surgical strikes. What an irony that Rahul Baba was seeking evidence of surgical strike even after that. Later, Amit Shah reached Haridwar to campaign for the elections. Here he was accorded a warm welcome. He also reached Har Ki Pauri and offered worship of Ganga before leaving for Delhi.
