Shah logs in to ‘3G’ in Unnao vote hunt

Unnao: BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday promised farmers interest-free loans and pledged all-round development of villages if the Narendra Modi government came to power.
Addressing an election rally in support of the party’s Unnao candidate Sakshi Maharaj on Ramlila ground here, Shah said while the Congress’s 3Gs were Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi (Vadra), those of BJP were gaon (village), gai (cow) and Ganga (the river). He stressed that developing villages, making Ganga clean and preventing cow slaughter were priorities of his party.
The BJP veteran underscored that those who were seeking a report card on the Narendra Modi government’s five-year rule should first explain what they had done for five generations.
“Let me ask them when air strikes were carried out across the border in Pakistan, why bua (read Mayawati) and babua (Akhilesh Yadav) experienced stomach ache. Were those terrorists their paternal-maternal cousins? The Modi government will give a befitting reply to terrorists. If terrorists don’t mend their ways and if bullets fly from across the border, there will be appropriate retaliation,” Shah said in a not-so-veiled attack on the SP-BSP alliance.
The BJP president reiterated that the country was safe under the Modi government, which had secured the international borders.
Attacking the erstwhile Congress government under Manmohan Singh, Shah said security forces were not given a free hand to deal with terror under him and that facilitated “horrifying attacks”.
“But, on the orders of the Prime Minister (read Modi), the IAF struck at Balakot and reduced terror camps to rubble,” he said, referring to the air strikes carried out in Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack that killed over 40 Indian soldiers.
Continuing his tirade against opposition parties, Shah said soon after the air strikes, Rahul, Mayawati and Akhilesh went into a state of depression. “This is not a government led by Mauni Baba (an oblique reference to Manmohan Singh), but a strong one led by Narendra Modi, which will always give a befitting reply to terrorists and nations backing them,” he said.
Taking a jibe at the BSP supremo, Shah said Mayawati sold election tickets to fill her coffers. She trades Dalit votes, he added. Attacking Akhilesh, the BJP leader said goons had the gall to thrash police under the SP rule. “But, under the Yogi government, law and order is back on track,” Shah said. He also claimed that during SP rule, people living in west UP had started deserting their homes. “But now, the situation has changed. Those who had unleashed a reign of terror are leaving.” In a final fervent appeal, Shah urged people to cast their votes for a sanyasi BJP candidate Sakshi Maharaj), as “he is the one who can give you his blessings”.