Modi also had a dig at Science and Technology minister, Kapil Sibal for asking him to be prepared to go to jail for speaking "nonsense" about Congress.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi led the BJP charge on Tuesday raking up historical issues since Independence to target Congress in a bid to blunt the frontal attacks on BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani by the top Congress leadership.
Modi's response to the three-pronged attack by the Congress on Monday ridiculing Advani's 'strong leader" pitch came on a day when prime minister Manmohan Singh and the BJP stalwart came face-to-face at a function in Parliament in New Delhi but the fallout of their escalating war of words was evident.
Singh and Advani shook hands briefly but the warmth was clearly missing as Singh went about his business greeting others and later paying floral tributes to the portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar. Advani has frequently taunted Singh as a weak premier while the prime minister has attacked the BJP stalwart for his 'strong leader' pitch.
Addressing a series of rallies in his home state, Modi recalled the past right from the time half of Kashmir went to Pakistan in 1947 to the setback faced by India during the war with China in 1962 and the Mumbai terror attack and said these were the instances of Congress's "helplessness".
"What was Congress doing during the India-China war of 1962. I want to ask the prime minister who is saying that Advani was wringing his hands, what was the Congress doing with their hands then. Today also thousands of thousands of acres of Indian land is with China," Modi said.
BJP's spokesman Ravishankar Prasad too joined the chorus of the party attack against Singh when he said "the prime minister is a glorified caretaker of PM's post."
Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had attacked Advani for "melting" before terrorists during the Kandahar hijack episode, "wringing his hands" during the 2002 Gujarat riots and "weeping in a corner" when the Babri mosque was demolished by hoodlums.
Coming to the defence of Advani, Modi said "Even today half of Kashmir is occupied by Pakistan, what kind of strength does it show. I want to ask the Prime Minister is kneeling down due to helplessness of Congress or is it part of your habit?"
"I today allege that under the Narasihma Rao government, when Manmohan Singh was finance minister, the Congress had given safe passage to five terrorists in Charar-e-Sharif of Kashmir after providing them a feast of 'chiken biryani' for seven days", Modi said.
Modi also had a dig at Science and Technology minister, Kapil Sibal for asking him to be prepared to go to jail for speaking "nonsense" about Congress.
"My dear Congress friends, a jail that can hold Modi is yet to be built," he said.
"I would like to tell the Congress people that they have dialed a wrong number. Are you trying to threaten me? Keep open the doors of all the jails in India and take me whenever you want, my address is known to all," the chief minister said.
With the prime minister being variedly described by the BJP as "weak", a "glorified caretaker of PM's post and a "nightwatchman", Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka came to Manmohan Singh's support saying he is strong, "Sher-e-Punjab" (Lion of Punjab) and the "pride of India".
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