Beware of those stopping 'Vande Mataram', says PM Modi in Punjab

Further attacking the Congress, he said the party made a rioter the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, an apparent reference to Congress leader Kamal Nath.

PM Narendra Modi addressing a rally in Gurdaspur, Punjab.

Gurdaspur (Punjab): In his first rally of year 2019, PM Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack against the Congress party accusing it of reneging on its poll promises. Modi said the Congress has in the past betrayed farmers by not waving farm loans.“It earlier betrayed the country with the slogan ‘Garibi Hatao’, now it’s deceiving by promising clearance of farm loans,” Modi said. The prime minister also intervened into the 'Vande Mataram' row which was generated after the national song was not sung at the Madhya Pradesh state secretariat on January 1, the first working day of the month, a tradition followed by the previous BJP government.  He said people must beware of those in power objecting to Vande Mataram’. Modi said the history of Congress is of being anti-Sikh. Further attacking the Congress, he said the party made a rioter the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, an apparent reference to Congress leader Kamal Nath. Taking a swipe at Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Modi said, “just for their politics, Congress leaders gave a chance to Pakistan, surprising that these Congress leaders did not even pay heed to their own Punjab CM.” Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi escalated his attack on PM Modi today, saying the prime minister fled to Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab trying to dodge his questions. The Congress President was referring to four questions he had fired to Modi on the controversial Rafale deal on Wednesday. "So it seems our Prime Minister has fled Parliament and his own open book Rafale exam and is instead lecturing students at Lovely University in Punjab, today. I request the students there to, respectfully, ask him to please answer the four questions posed to him by me yesterday," Gandhi tweeted. Before addressing a rally in Gurdaspur, PM participated in the 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC) in Jalandhar.