Congress cannot be forgiven for PM’s security lapse: Rajnath Singh
Holding the Congress government in Punjab responsible for the lapse in security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his way to Ferozepur, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the party cannot be forgiven for a serious lapse. The Prime Minister represents the country and his office is an institution that should be respected by all. Congress is in power in Punjab. Could we have imagined such a security lapse as happened with the Prime Minister’s convoy yesterday (Wednesday)?
Rajnath Singh said, “I have also been the Chief Minister. We have never accepted this kind of cheap politics.”
Holding the Congress government in Punjab responsible for the lapse in security of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his way to Ferozepur, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the party cannot be forgiven for a serious lapse. The Prime Minister represents the country and his office is an institution that should be respected by all. Congress is in power in Punjab. Could we have imagined such a security lapse as happened with the Prime Minister’s convoy yesterday (Wednesday)?
Addressing the concluding program of BJP’s Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Uttarkashi, Singh said, “If we cannot ensure the security of institutions like the Prime Minister, then it will be difficult to stop the disintegration of democratic institutions of the country.”
On Wednesday, Modi’s convoy got stuck on a flyover after protesters blocked a road in Ferozepur, after which he returned from Punjab without attending any event, including a rally. The Union Home Ministry directed the state government to submit a report immediately saying that it did not ensure the necessary deployment, while Home Minister Amit Shah said such negligence in the security process during the Prime Minister’s visit is completely unacceptable and Accountability will be fixed.
Rajnath Singh said, “I have also been the Chief Minister. We have never accepted this kind of cheap politics.” He asked the people that can the Congress be forgiven for what happened to the security of the Prime Minister in Punjab? He attacked the Congress’ campaign committee chief for Uttarakhand Harish Rawat, who had said that Modi keeps coming to the state for “marketing”.
He alleged that Rawat was trying to take credit for the reconstruction of Kedarnath by saying that the cave where Modi meditated was built when Modi was his chief minister. If this is true, why couldn’t you muster up the courage to meditate in that cave?
Singh, however, did not name Rawat but said that there is a former chief minister who wants to become the chief minister again. I have never made baseless allegations against any of our Prime Ministers, be it Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Manmohan Singh or Deve Gowda because the Prime Minister’s Office is a democratic institution that should be respected by all.
On the Congress’s allegation that the BJP has replaced two chief ministers in Uttarakhand, Singh said all the chief ministers of the party have performed well. If we had contested elections by projecting someone as the chief ministerial candidate, we would not have changed him. The party contested the elections and made whomever it thought was suitable for the post of Chief Minister. This is an internal matter of the party.
He said that a national party has to take care of many things. Whose services are needed for the organization and for whose Parliament… we can change the Chief Minister 10 times if we want. Why are you worried about this? The difference between the BJP and other parties is that there is no difference between the words and deeds of the BJP. In support of this argument, he gave the example of removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
