Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Union minister for sports and youth affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur said it was after the removal of section 370 and clause 45-A from Kashmir that Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi got a chance to visit the valley. The minister was answering to the media queries in the sidelines of a programme organised to release the two editions of book ‘Mann Ki Baath’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bhopal on Saturday.
Responding to Rahul Gandhi’s barb that China encroached upon a large area of Indian territory, the union minister said that it was due to the (faulty) policy of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru that China managed to get hold of 49,000 sqkm of Siachen. “Now country is having a strong government that no one can even think of grabbing even an inch of land,” said Thakur.
He also took a pot shot at Chhattisgarh CM Bhupendra Singh Baghel saying that no one in Baghel’s staff was honest and that people were praying to get rid of Baghel government. Likewise, corruption is rampant in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, alleged. Rubbishing Rahul’s allegation that Muslims were being attacked in the country, the minister in turn accusing the Congress leader of engaging in appeasement politics said a large number of pucca houses (given under PMAY scheme) were given to members of Muslim community. “Out of 12 crore toilets constructed in households, maximum beneficiaries are Muslim women. So whether he (Rahul Gandhi) considers this as an atrocity,” he asked. During the Congress regime, slogan was given to remove poverty but it never got erased rather poor’s went into the oblivion, while under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi over 18 crores poor came out from the below poverty line in the last 9 years.
He praised Madhya Pradesh government’s Learn and Earn Scheme and implementation of Youth Policy.