PM Modi, Shah address rallies in Madhya Pradesh, take jibes at Congress over crime rate, Ram Temple

With just four days to go for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressed rallies in the State

A day after Deepavali and with just four days to go for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, top two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressed rallies in the State to seek votes for the party as the campaigning enters its final phase.

Addressing a rally in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Modi attacked the Congress and said that slogans such as “sar tan se juda” [head removed from the body] were only possible under the Congress rule.

“Could we have ever imagined hearing slogans like sar tan se juda in India? But this took place in the misrule of Congress, in the land of brave Rajasthan and in front of a camera,” the Prime Minister said, referring to the murder of a tailor, Kanhaiya Lal, in Rajasthan’s Udaipur last June.

The slogan, which is reportedly ascribed to the punishment for blasphemy in Islam, had been heard on multiple occasions in the country in the wake of the derogatory remarks on the Prophet by now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. The tailor was also beheaded in front of a camera for allegedly extending his support to Ms. Sharma.

While Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls on November 17, polling in Rajasthan will take place on November 25.

Mr. Modi said, “The Congress has one more identity and the youth need to understand this. Wherever the Congress comes to power, crime reaches a high there and riots become common. It becomes difficult for people to celebrate their festivals. You see in your neighbourhood of Rajasthan. What all has not happened there in the past five years.”

Mr. Shah took on the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi over the issue of Ram Temple construction. He accused the Congress of “delaying, misleading and hindering” the issue of temple construction since Independence.