Delhi needs govt that supports CAA, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Delhi needs a government that will not resort to appeasement but supports the Citizenship Amendment Act, abolition of Article 370 and issues related to national security.

Addressing an election rally ahead of the February 8 assembly elections, the prime minister touched on various issues, including the 2008 Batla House encounter, surgical strikes and his government's flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme, during a speech that lasted a little over an hour.

In his second rally in the city in two days, Modi also referred to the armed forces while training his guns at the Aam Aadmi Party government and the Congress and exhorting voters to back the BJP.

"You must punish those who insult the armed forces. You should vent your anger through your vote. Delhi does not need a government which gives opportunity t enemies to attack us," he said at the rally in Dwarka.

He said the national capital also needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame games.

The anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Shaheen Bagh and other places in the city did not find any mention in his speech, unlike his address in Karkardooma on Monday when he said they were not a coincidence but a political conspiracy to destroy the country's harmony.

"Delhi needs a government that will not resort to appeasement but support the CAA, abolition of (special provisions of) Article 370 and issues of national security," he said in Dwarka, taking up the theme of the earlier day.

He also accused the opposition of spreading lies and rumours about the CAA, a legislation which seeks to give citizenship to the persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Muslims have been excluded from it.

Modi attacked those who questioned the surgical strike and air strike on terror camps across the Line of Control but did not take any names.

The surgical strike was launched on terror launch pads by the Indian Army in September 2016 after the Uri attack.

The Balakot air strikes were launched by the Air Force in 2019, post the Pulwama terror attack.

Slamming the AAP and the Congress, he said both parties cry for Batla House terrorists, put security forces in dock and instigate people but can not develop the national capital.

Two Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists were killed and two arrested in the encounter at Batla House in Jamia Nagar area on September 19, 2008. A Delhi Police inspector, who was injured in the encounter, also died.

The prime minister accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP dispensation of not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the flagship initiative of the Centre, in the national capital and asked if the AAP government's 'mohalla clinics' will work if Delhiites fall sick outside the city.

The people of Delhi have seen how the AAP government practises the politics of hate, he said.

"People of Delhi have seen how the (AAP) government practises politics of hate. Delhi needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame game," he said.

Many central government schemes in the last five years were opposed by the Delhi government even before their implementation, he alleged.

The people of Delhi say the country has changed, and now is the time for Delhi's transformation, the prime minister told the gathering.

Modi enumerated steps taken by his government for Delhi -- including the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Western Peripheral Expressway and extending the Metro network.

His government, Modi added, opened more bank accounts for the poor than the population of US, and built more houses than the population of Sri Lanka.

Votes for the Delhi elections will be counted on February 11.