Modi and Shah trying to draw 'political mileage' from Pulwama attack

Sitaram Yechury

Chennai: CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, saying they were trying to draw "political mileage" out of the terrorist attack in Pulwama. CPIM along with all opposition parties have said that fight against terrorism is a fight of "United India" against terrorism, he said, while participating in a public rally, here.

"Instead of building that unity, the moment Pulwama terror took place and after Indian Air Fore response in Balakhot, we all said we are proud of our Indian Air Force. They have hit the targets. We are proud of our wing commander Abhinandhan who comes from Tamil Nadu", he said. Abhinandhan Vardhaman showed exemplary courage and he was forced to be returned by Pakistan, Yechury said. "All of this happened when the unity of the country was most important. When everybody else expressed that unity, it was Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and BJP President (Amit Shah), who are trying to draw political mileage out of this so that they can utilise that for their electoral advantage.

This is the biggest disservice they are doing", Yechury said. Sufficing his point, he said, during the last five years of Modi's rule and if one compares it with previous five years under UPA-II from 2009 to 2014 and from 2014-2019, "the number of terror strikes has increased from 109 in previous five years to 626 under the government of Narendra Modi." The number of jawans, who were martyred increased from 139 (under UPA II) to 483.

The number of civilians who died has increased from 12 (under UPA II) to 410 in the last five years, he claimed. ".. in order to get political and electoral advantage instead of uniting India to fight against terrorism, the BJP is targeting Kashmiris somewhere, targeting Muslims somewhere", he alleged. "This is what terrorists wants. Terrorists want India to fight one another so that we become weak and that our enemies gain. This is what precisely our Prime Minister, BJP, RSS and other wings are doing. That is not in the interest of India", he said. Instead of building the unity, the Prime Minister is "dividing the unity", Yechury alleged and added that the country was having a government which was dividing the unity.

"That is not in the interest of the country and therefore this government must go", he said. Referring to the slew of projects unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tamil Nadu last week, Yechury claimed nothing of those projects would be implemented in the state. "It is to tell you that here is the lollipop and you take this lollipop, enjoy this lollipop and then you (people) vote for me", he said. "In Tamil Nadu, Modi came here for 11 times. He announced economic packages of more than Rs 5,010 crore. The Defence Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) announced packages of more than Rs 3,000 crore for Tamil Nadu and Railway Minister (Piyush Goyal) has announced more than Rs 1,000 crore.

That is a total of more than Rs 10,000 crore is coming days before election is being announced. Nothing of this will be implemented", he alleged. The announcement from the government before the elections are "like the toys given to babies" to distract their attention. Actually, nothing of these projects are going to come. That is why, this government must go, otherwise no future to save India, he said.

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