The Bharatiya Janata Party national president J P Nadda on Thursday alleged all parties come to power to serve their families and earn through commission except the BJP. “All political work for their families and earn through commission except the BJP. Right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, everyone in BJP toils day and night to serve the people and to change their image and destiny,” Nadda was addressing people after inaugurating BJP offices in 10 districts of poll-bound Karnataka.
He said the Congress in Karnataka was dividing communities and knows nothing about development. “The Congress does not know what development is. They know only one thing – how to come to power and use it for their purpose and earn through commission. The Congress cannot think beyond this. Is it not the history here,” the BJP president said.
Nadda said the Chief Ministers such as Basavaraj Bommai and his predecessor B S Yediyurappa (both from BJP) carry their report cards with them about the work done by them, which no one else can. “Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah cannot say what his government had done for the State, but, yes, he can explain how he divided communities in society,” the BJP leader said.
He said the BJP is the only party which is working with a nationalistic ideology since 1951-52. In this regard, he cited how the BJP worked for the abrogation of Article 370, sacrifice of Jan Sangh leader Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in Kashmir, Goa’s liberation movement, protests against a road in Shimla pact, flying the Indian tricolour in Lal Chowk in Srinagar and raising Shah Bano case.
The BJP president ridiculed the Bharat Jodo Yatra and slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly siding with those who raised anti-India slogans. “This is not ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India march) but ‘Bharat Todo Yatra’ (Break India march). This is also Prayashchit Yatra (Repentance March) because his (Rahul Gandhi’s) ancestors spared no efforts to divide India,” Nadda said referring to the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
He charged Nehru with ceding Jammu and Kashmir from the rest of India by incorporating Article 370 in the Constitution giving special status to the restive State. However, Modi rectified the blunder by abolishing the provision from the Constitution. “Rahul, you go to the Jawaharlal Nehru University and stand with those who raised slogans like ‘Afzal Hum Sharminda Hain Tere Qatil Zinda Hain’. Afzal Guru was the mastermind of the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament,” Nadda said.
Apparently referring to former JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Nadda alleged that the man who raised slogans ‘Bharat Tere Tukde Honge Insha Allah’ was roaming with Rahul Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka. “Will such people unite India or destroy it?” the BJP leader wondered.
He said BJP followed the principle of ‘appeasement to none and justice to all’. The BJP president said the BJP aims to set up offices in every district headquarters. So far, there are 296 offices and 210 more would be ready by March 2023, he added.