Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his tirade against the Opposition parties saying that those who are questioning the relevance of Article 370 to Maharashtra should be ashamed of themselves. The PM also predicted that the Congress and NCP would win 10 seats each in the Vidhan Sabha polls.

Addressing an election rally in Akola Wednesday, Mr Modi said, “How can they say that Article 370 has nothing to do with Maharashtra? They should be ashamed of such thoughts. Don’t they have any shame? Doob maro (Go drown). The people of Jammu and Kashmir belong to India only and the entire country is with them.”

In this land of Shivaji Maharaj, questions are being asked for political gains about the relevance of Article 370 in the state polls. However, there isn’t a single district in the state whose soldiers have not sacrificed their lives for peace in Jammu and Kashmir. Then, how can they say that Article 370 has nothing to do with Maharashtra, Mr Modi questioned. He said that they are proud of the children of Maharashtra who sacrificed everything for Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Modi slammed the Congress and NCP chief Sharad Pawar for accusing the ruling dispensation of “diverting attention from its failures by harping on the abrogation of Article 370.” Mr Pawar had said, “If you question them about farmers’ suicides, unemployment, closure of industries, the BJP responds with Article 370.”

In a bid to defend the state BJP on the Savarkar issue, the PM said that Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar’s ‘sanskar’ (values) are the basis of nation building. “It is due to Savarkar’s ‘sanskar’ that we have nationalism as the basis for nation-building,” he said. Babasaheb Ambedkar was denied the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour, he rued.

The state BJP has sought the Bharat Ratna for Savarkar in its poll manifesto.