Cong, NCP stand on 370 to work against them: Amit Shah

MUMBAI: Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the people of Maharashtra would teach NCP’s Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi a lesson in the forthcoming assembly election, scheduled for October, for speaking against the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shah, who was addressing a rally in Solapur on Sunday, said the Congress always thought of vote-bank politics when it came to national security.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee supported Indira Gandhi during the 1971 war with Pakistan. We have always stood with the government on issues of national security. We don’t need your support (Rahul) but you need to at least keep quiet,” Shah said.


Shah said that the stand of the Congress and NCP on Article 370 would go against them in the polls. “Rahul Gandhi stood with those people in Delhi who said ‘Bharat tere tukde hazaar insha Allah’. He said it was a freedom of expression. He questioned the Balakot air strike. He talks the language that Pakistan talks. Both Pawar and Rahul were beating their chests and wailing loudly when we scrapped Article 370,” Shah said. The home minister also welcomed Congress and NCP MLAs who joined the BJP. Ranajagajit Sinha Patil who is related to the Pawar family, Congress MLA Jaykumar Gore and Dhananjay Mahadik, a former NCP MP, have all joined the BJP.

Shah said that there could be more defections from the NCP and Congress, but he will not let everyone enter the BJP.