Senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using achievements and sacrifices of the armed forces for vote bank politics and said no government in the past has done it.

He addressed a chain of public rallies at Pancheri, Latti, Dudu, Basantgarh and Gordi in Udhampur district in support of Vikramaditya Singh, the party candidate for Udhampur Lok Sabha seat and grandson of erstwhile Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh. Vikramaditya Singh is pitted against Union Minister and BJP candidate Jitendra Singh.

"The BJP, its government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi area trying to take credit for the achievements and sacrifices of our armed forces, which no government in the past has done for vote bank politics", Azad told a rally here.

The Congress leader said "although there were numerous achievements of our forces during previous governments including division of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh, during the regime of Indira Gandhi, no government in past used them".

He said the forces belong to the nation and their achievements also belong to the nation and not to any particular political party.

"It is wrong to take credit for their achievements by the ruling party, as the achievement goes to the entire nation", he said

Azad said the BJP's "divisive politics for vested political interests" is against the overall interests of the nation.

The Congress leader said that India will remain united and strong by respecting the sentiments of its diversity and taking each and every section together, "not merely by hollow slogans".

Azad referred to the country's development in the past 70 years, attributing the progress to the Congress which was in the power for most of this period.

"The achievements and progress witnessed in all spheres by the nation is because of the visionary and progressive programmes initiated by the successive Congress governments", he said.

Azad took a dig at the Modi government, saying the "propaganda machinery of his government is spreading falsehood and misleading people on various fronts in order to hide their failures in fulfilling their commitments and fake promises to the people in the last election".

He appealed to the people to "reject the forces of divide and hate" and vote for Congress to maintain the atmosphere of peace and harmony for the nation's unity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)