PM Modi accuses Congress of using General Rawat's cut-outs for votes

Dehradun, Feb 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress on Thursday of abusing General Bipin Rawat when he was alive and using his cut-outs now for votes.

Addressing a rally in Uttarakhand's Srinagar ahead of the February 14 state Assembly polls, Modi said it is the same Congress that had asked for proof of surgical strikes against terror hideouts in Pakistan.

He said a leader of the party had even called former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Rawat a "streetside hooligan".

Describing the Congress as a party with a single-minded pursuit for power, the prime minister said it can never understand the price of "sacrifices". "The responsibility of giving the Congress a fitting reply in the coming polls for showing disrespect to General Rawat and using his name politically rests on the shoulders of the people of Uttarakhand," he said.

PM Modi said Congress governments in the past had pushed development activities backwards and forced people to migrate in large numbers from the hills. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Vision Document 2022 released on Wednesday will help make the decade that of Uttarakhand.