Gehlot asks youths to ditch smartphones & read history

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Saturday urged the new generation to brush up their knowledge of history and not fall prey to the BJP's "misleading" campaign on social media.

"Teams of social media are at work. They (BJP) are spending crores of rupees to attack... conspiracy is going on to mislead people of the country," he told reporters in Jaisalmer district.

"People in the BJP are misleading the new generation through social media. I appeal to youths to limit the use of smartphones and read history," he said.

Gehlot also asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not come back to power.

He claimed that there was a wave in favour of the Congress in the entire state and an undercurrent against Modi due to the environment of "fear, hatred and violence" created by the Centre.

Meanwhile, BJP's Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore hit out at Gehlot's recent remarks on surgical strikes.

"It seems the chief minister is talking like a spokesperson of Pakistan," he told reporters in Chittorgarh.

The chief minister had on Wednesday mocked the Modi government for boasting about a surgical strike across the Line of Control, saying even Pakistan did not talk about its own actions.

He claimed that except a handful of ministers, the NDA government was made up of first-timers. They boasted about the surgical strike because they lacked experience.

"Surgical strikes have been conducted in the tenure of every prime minister but they were never talked about. There were several things that Pakistan also did, but the nation never talk about it," Gehlot said.