Modi terms Congress ‘anti-armed forces’: When in Uttarakhand, defence votes matter!
The Uttarakhand poll campaign reveals how much Modi hates the Congress
Prime Minister Narendra Modi just loves to hate the Congress. The election season, in particular, sees Modi in a hyperactive mode when it comes to splashing ink on the grand old party. As if an extension of his hatred for the Congress party, Prime Minister Modi, as the superstar campaigner of the BJP, travelled to Uttarakhand to make sure that the people of the small state too develop a dislike for the rival party.
Just before the election campaigning drew to a close in Uttarakhand, Modi decided to have a last ditch effort at tainting the Congress one last time before the people of the state queue up to vote.
Uttarakhand is home to a good number of defence personnel
In an effort aimed at garnering votes of the families of the defence personnel who constitute a large part of the Uttarakhand population, Modi launched himself into attacking the Congress party saying that Congress is “anti-armed forces”. In fact, defence personnel and their family members comprise almost one-third of total votes in Uttarakhand.
As if to substantiate his claim, Modi also asked the people of Uttarakhand to find out how many programmes were organised by the state unit of the Congress party in honour of former Chief of Defence Staff late General Bipin Rawat, who died in a helicopter crash last year!
Making the most of the fact that General Bipin Rawat was born in Garhwal district, Modi made statements to the effect that defence personnel and their family members would take offence to the way the Congress party has treated them.
It may be recalled that the Prime Minister had earlier stated that the Congress has been putting up huge cut outs of General Bipin Rawat in a bid to get votes, but when the Chief of Defence Staff was alive, the party had treated him as a “street side hooligan”.
Modi’s anti-Congress mission clear
In Uttarakhand, the mission was very clear. Narendra Modi wanted to portray the Congress party as an outfit that have always stood against the defence personnel and also had insulted General Rawat for political gains.
As if not satisfied with the way he sprayed hate on the Congress party, Modi also said that the Congress had even questioned the surgical strikes by asking for proof. He added that the grand old party was an outfit that had done nothing to get ‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP) for the defence forces.
Election seasons, actually bring out the real politicians, who go to any extent for a bunch of votes. The Uttarakhand campaign is just another example of how Modi prioritises things. And, may be his utterances will have takers too.
