Cong slams Modi, wonders if he will fight next election in Pak

New Delhi, September 25

The Congress on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "playing politics" with national security and said he was offering "platitudes" to Pakistan as if he is going to fight elections in that country instead of understanding the anger of people in India.

Congress leader Manish Tewari said, "Prime Minister has suddenly started lecturing the people of Pakistan about its new developmental imperatives. It seems Narendra Modi would be fighting the next elections in Pakistan rather than understanding the depth of anger which is there in the people of India."

"...He has tried to change the goalpost by talking about malnutrition and other development indices like poverty and unemployment. These are battles India won far back."

Addressing a massive gathering at a BJP meet yesterday in Kozhikode, Modi challenged Pakistan to go to war against poverty and unemployment.

He said, "I want to say that India is ready for a war… India is a ready for a war on poverty. Let both countries fight to see who would eradicate poverty first...I want to tell the youth of Pakistan, let's have a war on ending unemployment.

"...I want to call out to the children in Pakistan, let's declare war on illiteracy. Let's see who wins. Let's declare war on infant mortality and maternal deaths."

Tewari termed as an "attempt to hide the government's failure on securing the country", the Prime Minister's talk of a war on poverty and unemployment between the two countries.

"Here is Prime Minister of India who rather than walking his talk is now indulging in platitudes to cover the embarrassing failure of his own government to address India's national security imperatives," the Congress leader said.

Asked about Modi quoting Deen Dayal Upadhyay that "Do not reward nor rebuke Muslims, empower them", he slammed him saying his "track record of empowering Muslims and other minorities in Gujarat was not forgotten by the country."

"The PM has a very illustrious track record of empowering Muslims and other minorities. The Gujarat program is not forgotten by this country. It is rather rich when the PM indulges in such sanctimonious homilies of neither rewarding nor rebuking but empowering (them).

"The PM should reflect on his own track record, on the track record of his government as a PM, on the track record of him personally as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, when so many people were slaughtered on his watch," Tewari said.

He also alleged that in the last two years, India's social cohesion has been ruptured and disharmony is the order of the day.

"In the last two years India's social cohesion has been ruptured. Disharmony is the order of the day. Every attempt has been made by his government to brow beat the minorities and try and impose a majoritarian ethos in the country. And, after all this, if the PM talks about empowering the minorites, it sounds absolutely pathetic and laughable." — PTI