Rajnath trains his guns on Cong for democracy barb

Chandigarh, June 24: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday hit out at the Congress for its ‘democracy-under-threat’ attacks on the government and reminded it that imposition of Emergency was one of the biggest blows to democracy.
Also slamming the opposition parties’ meeting in Patna, he said they can fight polls by joining hands but should not try to mislead people by making baseless allegations against the Narendra Modi government.
Singh was addressing a gathering as part of the BJP’s public outreach ‘Sampark Se Samarthan’ to mark the completion of nine years of the government at the Centre.
Without naming anyone, he also took on the AAP government in Punjab over law- and-order issue.
On Friday’s Patna meeting, he said, “It would have been better had they (opposition parties) held a meeting on June 25. Then they could have at least observed the anniversary of the Emergency.” At the meeting, the Opposition parties resolved to take on the BJP unitedly in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Over 32 leaders of more than a dozen political parties attended the meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Singh said the opposition wants to remove Modi and the BJP government but asserted that the BJP “has got the trust of the people”.
Attacking the Congress, he said, it “unleashed one of the biggest blows to democracy and is now saying democracy is under attack under the leadership of Modi”.
He went to add, “I want to ask Congressmen if Modi ji was ending democracy then how could they win elections in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka. How did they win in Chhattisgarh and also in Rajasthan if Modi is ending democracy.” He recited a couplet while referring to the opposition parties meeting, Jugnuon ne sharab pee lee hai, ab woh suraj ko bhi gaaliyan denge. (Fireflies are drunk and now will abuse the sun).” He, however, clarified, “I am not calling anyone jugnu.” (PTI)