Referring to the ongoing protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that PoK is part of India and it will be taken back from Pakistan.
Addressing a BJP rally in Serampore in Hooghly district, Shah said: “After the abrogation of Article 370 by the Central government in 2019, peace has returned to Kashmir. But now we are seeing protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Earlier, slogans of azadi (freedom) were heard here. Now, the same slogans are heard in PoK. Earlier, stones were pelted here. Now, stones are pelted in PoK.”
Alleging that Congress leaders were not in support of taking over the PoK, the BJP leader said, “Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar say that it should not be done as they have an atom bomb. But let me say this, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a part of India and we will take it back.”
“Rahul Gandhi might oppose it. Mamata Banerjee might oppose it. But it is a reality now that PoK will be a part of India,” Shah said while campaigning for BJP candidate Kabir Shankar Bose.
Pitching the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as a contest between “dynastic” Opposition parties and Prime Minister Narendra Modi “with a humble background”, Shah said: “(TMC chief) Mamata Banerjee wants her nephew to succeed her as chief minister of West Bengal. Sharad Pawar wants his daughter to be Maharashtra chief minister. Even Stalin wants to see his son as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Above all, Sonia Gandhi wants Rahul (Gandhi) Baba to become Prime Minister. And on the other side, there is an honest and dedicated leader born in the family of a tea-seller.”
Shah slammed Mamata Banerjee for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and accused her of “taking out rallies in support of infiltrators to appease her vote bank”.
“Mamata Banerjee is spreading lies and canards about CAA. Why is she against refugees obtaining citizenship? She is supporting infiltration in Bengal but opposes Hindu refugees getting citizenship. She is talking of supporting infiltrators and mullahs,” Shah alleged.
In March, the Centre implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Hitting out at TMC candidate and sitting MP from Serampore Kalyan Banerjee for allegedly mimicking Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Shah said Mamata Banerjee and TMC leaders are known for flouting the constitution. “Mamata Banerjee and TMC continue to flout the Constitution. Mamata’s ‘representative’ and the TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee’s ridiculous act of mocking the vice president has been a shameful case of insulting a high constitutional position in the country,” he said.
A political row unfolded last year after Kalyan Banerjee allegedly mimicked Dhankhar during the Opposition’s protest in Parliament, condemning the suspension of Opposition MPs.
With PTI inputs