Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged the Congress with defaming Hindus of the state by calling them terrorists (antakwadis).
GODHRA: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday charged the Congress with defaming Hindus of the state by calling them terrorists (antakwadis), a day after he justified the encounter of Sohrabbudin.
"The Congress was defaming Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel by calling Hindus of Gujarat terrorists (antakwadis)," he said in an election meeting at Godhra, the sensitive town where the attack on Sabarmati Express train on February 27, 2002 leading to the worst-ever communal riots in the history of the state.
Modi was referring to Congress leader Digvijay Singh's statement here on Sunday in which the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister had said that there was Hindu extremism in Gujarat.
To make the crowd responsive to his plank, Modi asked them whether they were 'Hindus' to which the chorus was 'yes'. When he asked, if it was 'antakwadi' as the Congress says, they shouted 'no'.
He also touched the 'Ramsetu' issue. Modi asked the crowd whether it believed that Lord Ram was born, the answer was 'yes'. He asked again if it believed that 'Ramsetu' was built, the reply was 'yes'.
But Congress-led UPA Government in an affidavit in the Supreme Court had said that neither Lord Ram was born nor the 'Ramsetu' was built, he said, asking it to be proud of the fact that they were Hindus.
The affidavit was later withdrawn.
The Gujarat Chief Minister said that Sonia Gandhi was levelling allegations against him.
"She says that I am 'maut ka saudagar' (merchant of death). I am not, but those at the Centre who are defending the terrorists are 'maut ka saudagar'," Modi said.
"They want to try me in an international court. They are free to try me anywhere they want, even in a Pakistani court. If the allegations against me are found true, I am ready to be hanged," the Chief Minister said.
"Even after a year since the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case, he was not hanged. Why is the Congress-led UPA Government protecting him," Modi asked.
If Sonia wants to know what terrorism is then she should go and meet the families of soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmir by the terrorists.
"The Centre talks of imposing Article 356 in Gujarat but the Gujaratis will give me AK-56 to fight it," he said.
The BJP-led NDA Government had brought POTA to tackle Naxalism and terrorism. But the UPA Government repealed the law as soon as it came to power, giving a free hand to the terrorists, Modi said.
On the issues of development, law and order, he said in 1985 when Congress was in power, curfew was imposed in Gujarat for 110 days. In comparison, curfew has not been imposed even for a minute in Gujarat in the last five years, Modi said.
Taking a dig at Congress' 'Chak De' campaign, he said it meant that the opposition party has got stuck in some ditch and needed a push come out of it.
The Gujarat Chief Minister said the state was making rapid progress but the Congress wanted to stop its growth.
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