The ghost of Yakub Memon, who was convicted and then hanged in 2015 for his prime role in the March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts executed by the Dawood Ibrahim gang and masterminded by Pakistan's ISI, was resurrected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.
Modi's Accusations On Yakub Memon Grave Controversy
Addressing large rallies at Nanded and Parbhani in the backward Marathwada region, Mr Modi accused the MVA government helmed by Uddhav Thackeray of ``decorating the grave" of Yakub Memon at the Bada Kabrastan near Marine Lines station. A major controversy had taken placed then with the then opposition accusing the MVA government of permitting the refurbishing of Memon's grave. Memon was hung at Pune's Yerawada jail and his body was buried in the grave in south Mumbai amidst heavy police bandobast personally supervised by the then police commissioner Rakesh Maria.
By making the Yakub Memon controversy a poll issue, PM Modi was obviously trying to accuse the MVA of going soft on terrorists.
Firing from all guns, the PM once again referred to the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray as a 'fake Sena.' The idea was to lend credibility to the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde, who had raised the banner of revolt against Uddhav's leadership, and is now an ally of the BJP.
Modi Predicts Defeat For INDI Alliance
He claimed that the INDI alliance has already conceded defeat. Its constituents were fighting each other in 25 % of the seats. He noted that Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had attacked Rahul Gandhi in the most acerbic language ever used against the Congress leader. The PM said since Rahul was contesting from Wayanad in Kerala, his own family members won't be able to vote for him.
He said the Congress 'sahebzade' aka Rahul lost in Amethi (in 2019) and ran away from there to Wayanad. After his defeat in Wayanad he will flee from there also, PM Modi predicted. Without referring to Sonia Gandhi by name, he said certain leaders were not confident of winning the LS elections and hence had got themselves elected to the Rajya Sabha.
