BJP will protect Jharkhand's 'Roti, Maati, Beti': Amit Shah

Palamu, Nov 9 (IANS) Highlighting the BJP’s commitment to protect the ‘Roti, Maati, Beti (livelihood, land, daughter)’ of Jharkhand voters, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday attacked the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) for the state government’s conspiracy to allow cross-border infiltration for vote bank politics. He also said that there would be no religion-based reservation in the country.

Addressing an election rally in Palamu, HM Shah also slammed the INDIA bloc for corruption that was exposed by the recent recovery of over Rs 300 crore from a Congress MP’s house and seizure of Rs 30 crore from the home of an aide of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam.

In a stinging criticism of the Congress for its proposal to give 10 per cent reservation for Muslims, HM Shah said, “I want to warn Rahul Gandhi that your conspiracy to give 10 per cent reservation to Muslims will never succeed.”

“If such a Muslim quota is created, the biggest losers will be OBCs, Dalits and Tribals as their share of reservation will be reduced,” HM Shah warned.

He also lashed out at the Congress for allegedly waving fake copies of the Constitution at public meetings.

“The copies of the Constitution they wave at the public have blank pages. Rahul Gandhi has insulted B.R. Ambedkar by waving a fake copy of the Constitution and reduced the revered document to a joke,” he claimed.

The Home Minister also trained his guns on Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi over Article 370, saying neither the Congress leader nor his next four generations would be able to bring back Article 370, whose removal has fully integrated Jammu and Kashmir with the country under the Modi government.

HM Shah hit out at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for allowing infiltration for pursuing vote bank politics.

“The CM says there is no infiltration, it is just the BJP’s political agenda. But I want to tell the CM that you are allowing infiltration as part of your vote bank politics,” he claimed.

HM Shah said the infiltrators were eating into the jobs meant for Jharkhand’s youths.

“Once a BJP government comes to power in Jharkhand, we will protect ‘Roti, Maati, Beti.’ Today infiltrators are marrying tribal girls in Jharkhand and getting land transferred to their names using Dan Patra,” he said, vowing to stop this malpractice.

Accusing the Congress and CM Soren of not acting against corruption, HM Shah said, “The seized Rs 300 crore and Rs 30 crore don’t belong to the Congress, but belong to Jharkhand’s youth that they were trying to swindle.”

“Under Narendra Modi’s government all corrupt people land in jail as his government has completed the task of punishing the corrupt – ulta latka kar, seedha kiya hai,” he said.

He claimed that the corrupt Congress and the government misappropriated over Rs 300 crore out of the money sent by the Centre for the state.

“Between 2014-24, the central government sent Rs 3,90,000 crore for the state as compared to just Rs 84,000 crore sent by the UPA government between 2004-14,” he said.

Reaching out to the youth, Shah promised to stop paper leaks and generate one lakh jobs annually and fill 2.27 lakh vacancies in a transparent manner.

Elaborating on the welfare schemes that the BJP will unveil on coming to power, Shah said the party will give Rs 25,000 annually to all adult women, one LPG cylinder for Rs 500 with two free ones on Diwali and Rakshabandhan, rebate in property registration’s stamp duty, additional Rs 1 lakh loan for building homes.

He said the BJP will also open 10 new medical colleges, an internship and skill centre and give Rs 2,500 monthly financial assistance to widows and the physically-challenged.

Voting in Jharkhand will be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20 to pick a new 81-member Assembly. The results will be declared on November 23.