This is what Rajnath Singh would like to say about the approach of Manmohan Singh towards corruption during UPA rule for 10 years

This is what Rajnath Singh would like to say about the approach of Manmohan Singh towards corruption during UPA rule for 10 years

The BJP, armed with ‘Chalo-Paltai’ or ‘Let’s Overthrow’ call in poll-bound Tripura, is aggressively pitching itself as an alternative to decades of ‘misrule’ by the Left government under Manik Sarkar.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday appealed to the people of Tripura, which goes to polls on February 18, to give a chance to the BJP to rule the state, highlighting how years of Left rule had become synonymous with “political violence, crimes against women, unemployment, and corruption”.

Speaking at a public rally in Agartala, marked by a huge turnout, Singh cornered the Left government over corruption allegations such as Rose Valley and chit fund scams and alleged that poor law and order had left women susceptible to crime and made political violence rampant.

Giving the example of a Left rule in West Bengal, he sought to highlight how the security situation in the state had suffered during the time. “Even after Trinamool Congress replaced Left, the situation there is for all to see,” he alleged.

Singh claimed that unlike the corruption scams that marked the Manmohan Singh government, the BJP had given the country a corruption-free rule.

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“Not just the PM, nobody can raise finger against a single minister for corruption,” he claimed. He also highlighted the state of governance in several BJP-ruled states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand was “a positive change was visible over the past 10-12 years”.

Mounting attack on the Congress-led UPA, Singh said its ministers had gone to jail over alleged corruption. “PM Manmohan Singh was said to be honest. But anybody who remains silent while those under him indulge in corruption cannot be called honest. Singh remained a mute spectator to corruption by his ministers,” said the home minister.

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Also raising the national security plank, Singh recalled repeated attempts by Pakistan to keep the pot boiling in Kashmir in order to break it away from India. “I openly challenge Pakistan. Kashmir is an integral part of India and nobody can take it away from us,” he said.

Singh recalled an incident from September 2014 when firing from Pakistani side had killed 5 civilians. “I asked DG, BSF what our response was and was told that BSF had shown ‘white flag’ to Pakistani border forces 16 times to appeal for peace. I told the DG to stop this and gave standing instruction that if a bullet was fired from the Pakistani side, we should retaliate without counting our bullets,” he said to cheers from the crowd.