Uttarakhand Polls 2022 | Congress Using Late CDS General Bipin Rawat's Name To Garner Votes: PM Modi

Prime Minister Modi said the Congress party did politics over General Rawat’s name while his appointment as the first Chief of Defence Staff.

New Delhi: With just days left for voting in the Uttarakhand Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday alleged the Congress is using late Chief of Defence Staff (CDS )General Bipin Rawat’s name to garner votes in the hill state.

“My mind is profoundly troubled. I have to mention this also because the Congress party is asking for votes by putting a cutout and photograph of General Bipin Rawat ji in its campaign. I can’t believe that one can go to this extent for the chair,” said Prime Minister Modi addressing the ‘Vijay Sankalp Sabha’ in Srinagar, Uttarakhand.

Prime Minister Modi said the Congress party did politics over General Rawat’s name while his appointment as the first Chief of Defence Staff.

“A leader of this party even called him ‘Sadak ka Gunda’. This is the hatred of these people for the soldiers of the country,” Prime Minister Modi said.

“If these people are trying to use General Rawat politically for votes, then it is the responsibility of the people of Uttarakhand to answer them,” he added.

Prime Minister Modi said the people of Uttarakhand can never forget the attitude of the Congress leaders towards the army.

“When the heroes of India had carried out surgical strikes on terrorist bases, these people were questioning the army. Some leaders of Delhi even appeared on TV regularly demanding proof from the army,” he added.

Prime Minister Modi emphasized that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ensured the implementation of ‘One Rank One Pension’.

“They were in power for so many years, but kept lying about the ‘One Rank, One Pension’. Our government implemented the ‘One Rank One Pension’. This is also the BJP government, which is building a 'military sanctuary' in Dehradun in honour of the martyrs of Uttarakhand,” he said.

Escalating his attack, Prime Minister Modi said the Congress party has only one identity.

“When they get power then corruption becomes rampant and they are terribly frightened when power is lost,” he added.

Reaching out to the voters of the hill state, Prime Minister Modi said the Congress deprived the people of Uttarakhand of water for years.

“Mothers and sisters had to go far away with a pitcher on their head for water. We started a door-to-door water supply campaign through Jal Jeevan Mission. Water is today reaching about eight lakh houses in Uttarakhand through pipes,” he added.

Asserting the BJP’s double engine government in Uttarakhand has done another important work, Prime Minister Modi said: “The entire population of one and a half crore of Uttarakhand has been given the facility of free treatment up to five lakh rupees through the Atal Ayushman Yojana.

“Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given AIIMS to Uttarakhand during the BJP government. We gave new hospitals and new medical colleges,” he added.

Prime Minister Modi said several roads have been built in the hill state during the BJP rule under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana in the last five years.

Appealing to the people of Uttarakhand to “block dishonesty and corruption” when they cast their votes on February 14, Prime Minister Modi said: “On the 14th, you block dynasty and familism. Show sectarianism and appeasement the way out of Devbhoomi on February 14.”

The hill state will go for polls in a single phase on February 14 and the results will be declared on March 10.

In the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly elections, the BJP had won 56 out of the total 70 seats. The Congress party bagged just 11 seats.