PM ‘forgot’ Army on Dussehra, says Mayawati

BSP president Mayawati slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday for omitting the Army’s role in the surgical strikes across the border in his Dussehra speech in Lucknow.

“The Prime Minister spoke of Ram, Ravana and Jatayu in reference to terrorism, but conveniently forgot to mention the role of Indian Army, which carried out the recent surgical strikes across the border”, she said in a statement.

It may be recalled that in his Dussehra speech in Lucknow, Mr Modi had made a strong statement against terrorism and said that at times, war was inevitable.

He also said that the first war against terrorism was waged by Jatayu, who fought Ravana to rescue Sita.

The BSP president further pointed out that the posters put up in Lucknow during the Prime Minister’s visit depicted him as the “real hero of surgical strikes”.

“It is clear that he used the Dussehra event for political gains since elections in Uttar Pradesh are due to be held next year,” she said.

She asked the Prime Minister to wipe out the “evils of self-praise and electoral-gains” from the hearts of his supporters and ensure that the laws of the land are implemented equally for all.

“People should not have been given a free hand to take law in their own hands in the name of gau raksha, love jihad, Hindu rashtra and conversion. Those who do this need to be firmly dealt with,” she added.