Modi steps up offensive against Congress, says its policies 'destroyed country'

On the last day of campaigning for the Haryana assembly polls here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the opposition Congress over issues of Article 370 and the Kartarpur corridor, accusing it of "destroying the country" with wrong policies and strategy.

Raising the issue of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, Modi here in a rally said what was called a temporary provision by B R Ambedkar, continued for over 70 years but the Congress did nothing about it.

The situation in Kashmir worsened as the government in Delhi remained in slumber, he said.

"The wrong policies and strategy of the Congress have destroyed the nation," he said, stressing that it was people of India and Kashmir who will frame policies now.

"Time has changed, country has changed," he said.

Justifying the scrapping of provisions of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir, Modi said, "Should Kashmir have been allowed to be destroyed for the sake of power in Delhi? Should Kashmir be more important or post of a prime minister? Every Indian's reply is the same that PMs will come and go, Kashmir has to remain and prosper."
Attacking the Congress, he said, "The government which was in slumber in Delhi worsened the Kashmir situation. Initially, a portion of our territory was snatched away from us and became Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir."
Referring to the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley due to militancy nearly three decades ago, Modi said, "Then a trick was played when more than four lakh Kashmiri Pandit families were forced to leave their homes in the Valley, a few of them were killed, their houses burnt down and some of the women were raped."