Amit Shah said opposition would not allow desire of having two PMs in the country being fulfilled
Slamming National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for advocating a separate prime minister for Jammu and Kashmir, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday asked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to clarify his stand on the issue raised by his electoral ally.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president also asserted that his party, whether in power or in opposition, would never let such a demand get fulfilled.
"Omar Abdullah says there should be a separate prime minister in Jammu and Kashmir. His associates are shouting pro-Pakistan slogans and Congress is silent," Mr Shah said at a rally in Uttarkashi in the hill state of Uttarakhand where all five parliamentary constituencies will go to polls in a single phase on April 11.
"The Congress is having an electoral alliance with the party. I want to ask the Congress president to clarify to the nation whether or not he agrees with his ally's demand," he added.
The National Conference (NC) vice-president had on Monday said his party would not allow any attacks on Jammu and Kashmir's special status and would seek restoration of terms of accession of the state, including the provision for ''Sadr-e-Riyasat'' (president) and ''Wazir-e-Azam'' (prime minister) posts.
"I want to make it clear that the BJP, no matter whether it is in power or in the opposition, would not allow their desire of having two PMs in the country being fulfilled," Mr Shah said.
Describing the BJP as a party which follows the ideals of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee who made the supreme sacrifice in Kashmir, Shah said it will not let anything of the sort happen "till its last breath".
"What do you think of this country? And the Congress is silent. The Congress President is silent," he said.
Lashing out at the Congress for promising to remove the anti-sedition law in its manifesto, Mr Shah asked, who was the Congress trying to protect.
"Who do you want to protect? When anti-India slogans like ''bharat tere tukde honge'' were shouted in JNU you stood with them in the name of right to freedom of speech. Do you want to protect those booked under the anti-sedition law?" the BJP president asked.
Advising the Congress president not to "stoop so low for the politics of vote", Mr Shah asked him to stop playing with the country's security.
He also slammed the Congress for promising to revoke the AFSPA which gives special powers to the armed forces saying the party was not bothered about the safety of the country's security personnel.
"Rahul baba, it is not within the powers of your party to revoke AFSPA which is for the security of our armed forces. BJP stands like a rock against your designs. We cannot risk the lives of our armed forces. We can't demoralise them," he said.
"The Narendra Modi government stands like a rock with the armed forces," Mr Shah added.
He stressed that securing the country's boundaries was the biggest achievement of the Narendra Modi government.
"When the UPA was in power any Aliya, Maliya, Jamaliya (Tom, Dick or Harry) crossed over into our territory, beheaded our soldiers and went back. There was no retaliation from our side. There was neither the courage nor the will to do so," he said
"The country was in a state of grief, despair and anger after the terror attack in Pulwama. A surgical strike was not possible as Pakistan had deployed tanks along the borders. But this time it was not the Manmohan Singh government but the Narendra Modi government which you had elected. It carried out an air strike and demolished the terror targets inside Pakistan," he added.
Claiming that "sadness" had gripped the Congress after the air strikes in Pakistan Shah said, "At a time when the entire country celebrated the counter terror offensive by setting off fire crackers, taking out processions with photos of martyrs and garlanding Modi's posters, Rahul Gandhi and company were sad."
"The expression on the faces of Rahul Gandhi and the Pakistan prime minister were the same," Mr Shah alleged.
Mr Shah said keeping the country secure was not "Rahul baba's or the gathbandhan's cup of tea".
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone has the power to give a befitting reply to Pakistan and terrorists," he said and asked people to put all the five seats of Uttarakhand into BJP's kitty like they did in 2014.
"If you want a secure India, if you want the country to emerge as the global leader and one of the largest economies in the world you have to put the reins of power into Narendra Modi's hands," he added.