Anti-Sikh rioters Cong's favourites: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarted campaign for the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday and held his first rally at Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The BJP has stated Modi would address 100 rallies across the country for parliamentary polls.

At the rally, Modi lashed out the Congress for their involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and mocked at the grand old party for appointing Kamal Nath as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. He also took jibe over Nath's alleged role in the riots.

The Prime Minister also attacked Congress over its farm loan waivers in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Congress waived loans of farmers in all three states soon after coming to power but Modi claimed the Congress had deceived them with tall promises. Modi said the Congress in Punjab, too, had made big promises to farmers, but deceived them after coming to power. "After the slogan of remove poverty, Congress is trying to fool the nation with loan waivers," Modi said.

On the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he said, "People of Punjab should beware of those whose history involves the killings of thousands of Sikhs and those who continue to appoint riot-accused persons as chief ministers of states."

It is pertinent to mention that the Nath was indicted by the Nanavati Commission for his role in the 1984 riots but charges against him were dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Taking a jibe at former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was recently convicted in a 1984 riots case, Modi said, "Those who were declared 'sajjan' and their case files were closed by a particular family was brought to the book by the NDA government."

He lauded his government's effort of forming an SIT to probe the riots. The SIT probe led to the conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the case. Modi said, "The NDA dug out these files that were buried and set up a SIT and results are before you."

KARTARPUR

PM said BJP’s work on the Kartarpur corridor was laudable. The government took the historic decision to link Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan, he said.