Want 400 seats to prevent Congress from bringing back Article 370 and locking Ram Temple: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 7 said he needed 400 seats in the Lok Sabha election to prevent the Congress from “bringing back Article 370 [in Kashmir] and putting a lock on Ayodhya Ram Temple”, drawing parallels to the Rajiv Gandhi government overturning the Supreme Court ruling in 1985 in the Shah Bano case, which he characterised as appeasement politics.

Speaking at campaign rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates, Mr. Modi accused the Congress of disrespecting the security personnel killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. He was referring to recent comments by Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar that the then Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, but by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated policeman.

“The sole agenda of the INDI alliance is to revive Article 370, scrap CAA [Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019] and do away with free ration supply. A senior Congress leader, who quit the party recently, has revealed that shehzada [referring to Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi] called a meeting of select people after the 2019 SC verdict in the Ram temple case and said if his party comes back to power, the apex court decision will be overturned just like his father [Rajiv Gandhi] did in the Shah Bano matter,” Mr. Modi said.