Modi dares Oppn to declare bringing back Art 370 in manifesto

Stepping up his attack on the Congress and NCP over nullification of Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dared them, "if they have guts", to declare in their poll manifesto that they will restore the provisions giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

He also said some Opposition leaders were speaking on the lines of a "neighbouring country" on the Article 370 issue which is "exactly opposite" the national sentiment.

Addressing his first campaign rally in the run-up to the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls in Jalgaon, Modi said Jammu and Kashmir was "not just a parcel of land, but crown of India", and assured it will not take more than four months to normalise the kind of situation that prevailed there for 40 years.

He accused the opposition parties of politicising the issue of Article 370 and charged them with "speaking on the same lines as that of the neighbouring country".

Speaking at another rally at Sakoli in Bhandara district in east Maharashtra, Modi said though the world was faced with a "challenging time" India is stronger to deal with the same.

He also said the rural economy was not paid attention to earlier unlike his government has done and added that Rs 25 lakh crore will be spent on the development of infrastructure in villages.

Attacking the Congress and NCP, Modi said in Jalgaon that it was "unfortunate" that they were "politicising" the "unprecedented" decision of scrapping of Article 370.

Their leaders thought exactly opposite of what the entire nation feels about Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

"You look at the statements made by Congress, NCP of late...They seem to be speaking on the lines of the neighbouring country," Modi said, without naming the leaders as he apparently referred to Pakistan.

Accusing Opposition leaders of shedding crocodile tears on the issue of Article 370, he said, "I challenge them, if they have guts, declare in their manifesto for state election and future polls too, that they will bring back Article 370 and 35A, which the BJP, the Modi government scrapped...that they will change the August 5 decision."