Says no roads, infra built fearing Chinese
Dehradun: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday accused successive Congress governments of deliberately withholding roads and other infrastructure from Uttarakhand’s border areas for fear of Chinese incursions.
Addressing the opening of the state’s foundation-day celebrations in Dehradun, Shah said the Modi government had strengthened border infrastructure and national security.
“They did not construct roads in the state. They used to say construction of roads will make way for Chinese incursions,” he alleged.
Shah claimed that India was now strong enough to deter attacks on its borders. He cited surgical strikes, air strikes and Operation Sindoor as examples of retaliation against those who attacked the country.
He accused previous Congress governments at the Centre and in the state of treating border settlements as the country’s last villages and leaving them without basic facilities.
“Border areas were left at the mercy of the gods, assuming them as the last villages of the country,” he said.
The Modi government had instead treated them as the country’s first villages, he said, adding that the Vibrant Villages Programme was encouraging young people to return to 51 border villages in Uttarakhand.
Shah also accused Congress governments of failing to stop terrorism and claimed that the Modi government had put an end to it.
Turning to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, he alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s campaign was intended to protect infiltrators rather than voters.
“Rahul Gandhi’s march was not ‘Save Vote Yatra’ but it was a ‘save infiltrators yatra’,” he said.
He asked whether electoral rolls should be freed of infiltrators and accused Gandhi of spreading a false narrative about the revision.
Shah alleged that the Congress had not abandoned its politics of appeasement. He accused the party of proposing leave for Friday namaz in Uttarakhand, opposing the Ram temple and sheltering infiltrators to bring about demographic changes.
“They gave shelter to the infiltrators and were planning demographic changes in the state but the BJP has dismantled them all,” he alleged.
He also accused previous Congress governments in Uttarakhand of involvement in scams, while claiming that BJP governments had ensured public funds reached their intended beneficiaries.
