Want 400 seats to prevent Congress from bringing back Article 370 and locking Ram Temple: Modi

Narendra Modi warns against Congress' plans for Article 370 and Ayodhya Ram Temple, urging 400 Lok Sabha seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 7 said he needed 400 seats in the Lok Sabha election to prevent the Congress from “bringing back Article 370 [in Kashmir] and putting a lock on Ayodhya Ram Temple”, drawing parallels to the Rajiv Gandhi government overturning the Supreme Court ruling in 1985 in the Shah Bano case, which he characterised as appeasement politics.

Speaking at campaign rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates, Mr. Modi accused the Congress of disrespecting the security personnel killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. He was referring to recent comments by Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar that the then Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, but by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated policeman.

“The sole agenda of the INDI alliance is to revive Article 370, scrap CAA [Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019] and do away with free ration supply. A senior Congress leader, who quit the party recently, has revealed that shehzada [referring to Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi] called a meeting of select people after the 2019 SC verdict in the Ram temple case and said if his party comes back to power, the apex court decision will be overturned just like his father [Rajiv Gandhi] did in the Shah Bano matter,” Mr. Modi said.

The Supreme Court, in 1985, had ruled in favour of Shah Bano, a Muslim woman from Indore who had sought maintenance from her husband after divorce, but the then-Rajiv Gandhi government overturned the judgement through an Act.

The Prime Minister said he wanted 400 seats to stop all the conspiracies of the Congress and the INDIA bloc. “Modi needs 400 seats so that the Congress does not bring back Article 370 in Kashmir or put a ‘Babri lock’ on Ram Temple in Ayodhya or gift away the nation’s vacant land and islands to other nations. Modi needs 400 seats so that the Congress does not break into the reservation given to SCs, STs, and OBCs by Baba Saheb [Dr. B.R. Ambedkar] and the Constitution for its vote bank or declare all castes of its vote bank as OBC overnight,” Mr. Modi said.

He urged the voters to ensure that the grand old party does not win a single Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra, stating that June 4, counting day, would mark the end of the Opposition alliance. “The BJP and NDA is receiving tremendous support from the people… the third phase of polls has made it clear that June 4 marks the expiry date of the INDI alliance,” he said and criticised the grand old party for allegedly supporting terrorists. He questioned the party’s vision for the country.

The Prime Minister was campaigning for the BJP’s Sujay Vikhe Patil (Ahmednagar), the Shiv Sena’s Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi), and senior BJP leader Panjaka Munde (Beed).