Congress leaders having sleepless nights over repeal of Article 370: Shah

Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday accused the Congress of "speaking the language of Pakistan" on issues such as the repeal of Article 370 and said the entire country was happy over its abrogation.

Addressing an election rally here, Shah alleged that the Congress leaders were having "sleepless nights" over the repeal of Article 370 and it has kept raising the issue.

He said the Modi government had shown guts to remove the Article which gave special powers to Jammu and Kashmir.

"So many governments came and went and so many Prime Ministers came and went. No one had the guts to touch Article 370. In the last 55 years, Congress had no interest in removing Article 370 and kept on asking what was the need to remove it?" Shah said.

"Pakistan did not want the removal of Article 370, even the Congress says the same thing. Why do Rahul Gandhi and Pakistan speak in each other's language? What is the relationship between the two? While the entire country is happy with the move, it is the Congress which is having sleepless nights," said Shah.

He said that Modi has punctured Opposition's "vote bank politics" by abrogating Article 370.

Shah also hit out at former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who has won elections from Rohtak and termed the previous Congress regime as "corruption-ridden".

Hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his 'khoon ki dalali' remark made over alleged politicisation of the surgical strikes carried out by the Army in 2016, Shah said on issues concerning country's security everyone should rise above party lines.

"When it is the issue of the country, we should all be one and rise above party lines. In 1971, when our Army won, Atalji (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) was the first person to congratulate Indiraji (Indira Gandhi) in Parliament. Rahulji says 'Modi ji khoon ki dalali karte hain.' This is shameful," Shah said.

He said that the BJP government in Haryana has done a lot of development works in the last five years.

"Under the Manohar Lal Khattar government, BJP has taken Haryana to the path of development," he said, adding that a lot of initiatives have been taken including elevated rail line and mega food projects.

Shah urged the people to re-elect the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Haryana is slated to go to polls on October 21 and counting of votes will take place on October 24.