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Expressing concern over the rising number of terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same five questions he had shot at the UPA government over the security situation in the country ahead of the 2014 general elections.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi described the Modi government’s foreign and defence policies as “directionless” that have created an “unquiet border” and “disquiet on the border” with Pakistan.

“It shows utter hypocrisy and double standards. Not one of these five questions have been attempted to be answered by the ruling party and by our 56-inch Prime Minister. The 56 inches is only in talk and in paper tigers,” Singhvi said.

He claimed that the number of terror incidents and killing of civilians and soldiers and ceasefire violations had increased drastically in the last 45 months of the Modi government.

“But how long can we ignore that directionless, irresolute, inconsistent, zig-zag, arbitrary foreign policy and defence policy which is going to endanger these brave soldiers. Can you get away every time by pointing a finger at the neighbour who is beyond care and beyond cure,” Singhvi said, referring to Pakistan.

He sought answers from Modi on how militants get these arms from across the borders. “All the borders are under the central government’s jurisdiction. Border Security Forces come under your jurisdiction.”

The Congress is “only repeating exactly what you used to ask us” and asked Modi where do these terrorists get money and funding from. “The entire money transaction business…is under RBI’s jurisdiction, it happens through banks. Why can’t the Prime Minister, Modi, keep surveillance on these transactions? This is under your jurisdiction, why can’t you stop it?

A third question “in the exact same language as Modi” asks about infiltration. “Everything is, Prime Minister, under your control. Borders are under your control. Coastal security is under your control. Navy is under your control. Then how can these infiltrators enter India?”

The fourth question seeks an answer on the government’s inability to intercept communications between the terrorists and their handlers. “You can prevent these attacks.

We want to ask you, PM Modi ji, what have you done in this regard?”

Singhvi asked the Prime Minister why his foreign policy has not been able to extradite terrorists who fled India and sit in foreign countries and indulge in these terror activities in India.

“Modiji, we again repeat your own words. First act with regards to these five things – then terrorism will be routed out. Modiji, you don’t have answer to the same questions, which you had asked us, once upon a time.”

The Congress leader was referring to Modi’s speech at election rallies ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls during which he had boasted of his 56-inch chest to battle it out with Pakistan and the terrorist outfits there.

“Facts and figures show a deplorable, an astonishing and a sorrowful increase in the case of major terror incidents” since the BJP came to power, Singhvi said.

He compared the number of terror incidents in the last 45 months of the Congress with the BJP’s 45 months in power.

In the last 45 months of the NDA government, there have been 207 terror incidents while there were 96 incidents in the UPA’s 45 months.

“In the same period 286 jawans got martyred while during UPA the number was 115. During 45 month period of the NDA 138 civilians have been killed while in UPA’s period the number of civilian deaths was 72.”

(IANS)

Patna: In a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bihar Leader of Opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said that demonetisation has “hit terrorism so hard that our 45 brave soldiers were martyred in last 30 days”.

“Modiji ki notebandi ne aatankavad ki aisi kamar todi ki vigat ek maah mein hamare 45 bahadur sainik shahid ho chuke hai (The noteban by Modi has broken the back of terrorism so badly that we lost 45 brave soldiers in just the last 30 days),” Tejashwi Yadav said in a tweet.

Tejashwi Yadav also targeted RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his “poor knowledge” about the Indian Army.

Bhagwat, on last Sunday, in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district said the army will take six months to fully get ready to fight but the RSS has the capacity to form an army within three days to fight against the enemy on the border.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader also attacked JD-U supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for “neglecting two brave soldiers from Bihar” who were killed in a Kashmir attack.

“Neither were their bodies received by a Minister nor did any Minister attend their last rites,” he said.

(IANS)

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused the Modi government of causing hindrances in Delhi’s development and said he could prove wrongdoing by the Centre if its files were made available to him.

Speaking at an event to mark the third anniversary of the AAP government, he said the Delhi government was struggling to get approval for its policies from Lt Governor Anil Baijal, an appointee of the Central government.

Referring to the government files stuck with the Lt Governor, Kejriwal said the MLAs were forced to virtually camp at his residence whenever this happened.

He added that the Shunglu committee, appointed by the Centre, failed to find any wrongdoing in the 440 government files of the Delhi government even after investigating them for months.

In turn, he challenged the Modi government to submit its files to him.

“Show me your files for four days, and I will teach you a lesson,” the Aam Aadmi Party leader said.

He said 16 to 17 bills passed by the Delhi Assembly were pending with the central government.

He accused the Lt Governor of delaying his government’s flagship Mohalla Clinics as he kept sending the files back and forth for one and a half years.

(IANS)

(AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

Among the promises the Bharatiya Janata Party is making while campaigning in poll-bound Nagaland is a free trip for Christians to Jerusalem. “We plan to send groups of senior Christian citizens to Jerusalem if our party comes to power,” Nagaland BJP spokesperson James Vizo told the newspaper.

The Congress, meanwhile, has promised voters in the Christian-dominated state a subsidy for the trip. Nagaland Assembly polls are on February 27.

The offer from the BJP, which is contesting the elections as an ally of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party, comes a week after the Nagaland Baptist Church Council warned voters against Hindutva forces in the state. “We cannot deny that the Hindutva movement in the country has become strong and invasive in the past few years with the BJP, the political wing of the RSS, in power,” the council wrote in its letter to presidents of all political parties.

Some other reports said it was unclear if the BJP’s offer of a free trip to Jerusalem applied only to Christians in Nagaland or also to the other two poll-bound states in the North East – Tripura and Meghalaya. Meghalaya will vote on February 27 along with Nagaland, and Tripura will have its polls on February 18.

Political leaders criticised the BJP’s announcement, especially as it came just weeks after the government cancelled Haj subsidies for Muslims. “I was right, BJP continues with subsidy if it suits its electoral needs,” All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi said on Twitter.

(Agencies)