Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the entire world now knew that “10 enemies would be killed even if one Indian jawan was killed”, PTI reported. Shah, addressing an election rally in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, claimed that national security had strengthened under the Narendra Modi government and India was seen differently after the “surgical strikes” in 2016.

Shah said the entire world stood by Modi’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status under Article 370 of the Constitution, and criticised the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party for their stand on the matter.

“When PM Modi brought the proposal to abrogate Article 370, both Congress and NCP were against it and were revolting against it,” Shah said. “I want Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar to answer to the people of Maharashtra why they were against the removal of Article 370.”

“Rahul Gandhi said that ‘Kashmir me khoon ki nadiya beh jayengi’ [there will be a bloodbath in Kashmir, but no bullet had to be fired,” he said according to the Hindustan Times.

“PM Modi recently returned from the United Nations, and the entire world is standing by his decision to abrogate Article 370,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said. “On the other hand, Pakistan stands alone in a corner, trying to prove a rumour.”

Shah claimed that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first person to congratulate former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on India’s victory after the India-Pakistan war in 1971. “We were in the opposition then, but for us, the nation comes first,” the BJP chief said.

He said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has waived loans worth Rs 3,700 crore for 11 lakh farmers of Sangli, built toilets for 1.7 lakh people, and provided 46,000 people with gas connections. “In 15 years of Sharad Pawar and Congress government, the state of Maharashtra has been plundered,” Shah alleged.

On terrorism, he said Modi has worked towards protecting the nation. “During the Manmohan Singh government, terrorists from Pakistan would enter through our borders regularly and kill our soldiers,” the home minister said.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held on October 21 and the results will be announced on October 24.

On Wednesday, at a rally in Haryana, Shah had said that the the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir had nothing to do with politics, but was about national security.

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