Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a visceral attack against the Congress and the INDIA alliance parties over their pro-Pakistan remarks. The Prime Minister said that these people are so afraid that they see Pakistan's atom bomb in their dreams. He went onto question that whether such parties and leaders who are so petrified can run the country.
"These (Congress and INDIA alliance people are so afraid that they see Pakistan's atom bomb even in their dreams. Can such parties and leaders run the country? They say 'Pakistan ne chudiyaan nahi pehni hai'. We say, 'pehna denge'," he said.
Prime Minister Modi was speaking at an election rally in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The Prime Minister also jabbed India's neighbour over a shortage of food and electricity outages, while adding that he was unaware they are also short of bangles. "They want wheat and they also don't have electricity. We didn't know they don't have bangles also."
Mani Shankar Aiyar's statement on Pakistan
The Prime Minister was replying to senior Congress leader and former diplomat Mani Shankar Aiyar's recent statement. Aiyar recently said that New Delhi can talk tough to Islamabad all it wants but India may have to pay a heavy price if it does not respect its neighbour.
He also warned India should not boast of its military might as this may irk Pakistan into deploying atom bombs. "They have atom bombs. We have them too, but if a 'madman' decides to drop a bomb on Lahore, it would 8 seconds for the radiation to reach Amritsar," he said.
"If we respect them, they will remain peaceful. But if we snub them, what happens if a 'madman' comes up and decides to launch bombs [at India]?" he further asked. Aiyar also took a veiled dig at PM Modi and said, "In order to become the vishwaguru, no matter how serious our issues with Pakistan are, we have to show that we are working hard to resolve them. But in the last 10 years, there has been no hard work [to this end]."
Farooq Abdullah's take on PoK's likely merger with India
Farooq Abdullah, National Conference (NC) chief and former J&K chief minister, said that Pakistan will not allow the merger of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) with India and that it will use nuclear bombs. Abdullah was responding to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's remarks that people in PoK will themselves demand a merger with India and that New Delhi wouldn't have to use force.
"If the Defence Minister is saying it, then go ahead. Who are we to stop? But remember, they (Pakistan) are also not wearing bangles. It has atom bombs, and unfortunately, that atom bomb will fall on us," Abdullah said.
Modi questions sceptics
Further, taking a jibe at Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar's 'Hemant Karkare was not killed by Ajmal Kasab' remark, Modi said that some of these leaders are giving a "clean chit to Pakistan" in the horrid 26/11 attacks of Mumbai. He further said that these leaders are also raising questions on the surgical strike carried out after the Uri attacks and the 2019 Balakot air strike conducted after the Pulwama terror attack.