Punjab polls: Modi targets AAP at Pathankot rally, calls it photocopy of Congress
Pathankot (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at an election rally here, and termed it a photocopy of the Congress.
Addressing the rally ahead of the February 20 Punjab Assembly elections, he said farming, trade and industry will be made profitable in five years if the BJP-led alliance is voted to power in the state.
"Give me five years to serve you. I assure you farming, trade, industry will be made profitable," Modi said at a poll rally in Pathankot.
Attacking political rivals, he said, "We see Punjab from the Punjabiyat angle, which is our priority. Rivals see Punjab only through political prism."
Targeting the Congress, Modi said the party failed to keep Kartarpur Sahib, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, within India's territory during the Partition.
He invoked Sant Ravidas and said his government was following his ideals, and that the welfare of the poor was above everything else for it.
The prime minister reached here to attend the rally after offering prayers at the 'Shri Guru Ravidas Vishram Dham Mandir' in Delhi's Karol Bagh on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti.
"Today is Sant Ravidas Jayanti. Before coming here, I went to Guru Ravidas Vishram Mandir (in Delhi) and sought blessings," he said.
With a large number of Guru Ravidas followers visiting Varanasi on the occasion of his birth anniversary, Modi said the BJP-led Yogi Adityanath government is making all efforts to ensure that the pilgrims are facilitated in every manner.
"Railways is also running two special trains. As Varanasi MP, it is my responsibility to see that when you are my guest, I have to ensure you get all facilities," he said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
