Neither Rahul Gandhi nor his descendants will be able to restore Article 370: Amit Shah
Sangli, Nov 8: Neither Congress leader Rahul Gandhi nor his fourth generation will be be able to bring back Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Union minister Amit Shah said on Friday in a stinging attack on the opposition at a poll rally in Maharashtra's Sangli.
The J-K assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution seeking a dialogue between the Central government and elected representatives for restoration of Article 370 granting special status to the erstwhile state. The move was hailed by the valley-based political parties while it prompted protests by the main opposition BJP which demanded its rollback.
The provision was scrapped on August 5, 2019.
Addressing a rally in Sangli for Mahayuti (ruling alliance) candidates Sudhir Gadgil and Sanjay Kaka Patil, the Union Minister said the Congress was supporting the National Conference, the ruling party in J-K, in this endeavour.
"From the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, I am telling you Rahul baba that neither you nor you fourth generation will be able to restore Article 370. Every child of the country is ready to fight for Kashmir," the senior BJP leader asserted.
"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision to abrogate Article 370, I brought the bill (in Parliament) but Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Stalin opposed the move. They said do not remove Article 370 as it would lead to bloodshed in the Valley. Forget rivers of blood, nobody dared to throw a stone," Shah said.
During the UPA government of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, terrorist attacks were frequent, but after Modi became PM, the incidents at Uri and Pulwama led to surgical strikes that wiped out terrorists in Pakistan, Shah told the gathering.
Modi's efforts led to the construction of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya, which was being stalled by the Congress for the past 70 years, he said.
"After Modi came to power, in five years, the court's judgement was delivered, the temple's foundation stone was laid, it was constructed and the consecration ceremony took place," he said.
Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for showing a copy of the Constitution at his rallies to attack the BJP, Shah said the Constitution is not an election agenda.
"The Constitution is about trust but these people (Congress) are seeking votes in the name of the Constitution and bluffing. Today, in one of the poll rallies, copies of the Constitution were distributed. The front cover was okay but the inside pages were blank. Not a single word was printed on them. Gandhi has insulted the Constitution, insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar and people of India," Shah said.
Gandhi should tell the people whether the copy of the Constitution that he held while taking oath as MP in Parliament was real or fake, Shah said.
"Gandhi recently said the country does not need reservations. But as long as the Modi government is in power, no one has the guts to touch the Constitution. Reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs will remain the way it always was," Shah asserted.
Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23.
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6.2-magnitude quake strikes off coast in southern Chile, no damage reported
Santiago (Chile), Nov 8: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck off the coast of southern Chile Friday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no warnings of a tsunami.
The quake's epicentre was 278 kilometres west-northwest of Cochrane, Chile, according to the US Geological Survey. Cochrane is a sparsely populated area in the Patagonia region.
The USGS said that the quake, at 6.37 am Chilean time, had a depth of 10 kilometres.
Chile's national disaster agency deemed the earthquake as one of “lower intensity,” but it said it will keep evaluating for any potential damage.
Chile is located in the so-called “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific that is uniquely vulnerable to earthquakes. Chileans still have painful memories of a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in 2010 that spawned a tsunami and killed 526 people.
