‘What was Neha’s fault?’: PM Modi claims Congress ‘kneeled before appeasement’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday blamed the Congress government’s policies for the murder of a college student in Karnataka’s Hubbali and the Bengaluru blast. Addressing an election rally in Ballari, PM Modi said the Congress has completely kneeled down before appeasement politics.
“The Karnataka Congress has kneeled down before the appeasement politics. A mindset is being pushed, which is dangerous for Karnataka and the country. Crime and terror cannot be compromised for vote bank. But Congress is not ready to learn anything,” he said.
PM Narendra Modi accused the Congress of associating with the banned PFI outfit.
“PFI is a dangerous organisation and it has a plan to destroy the nation… The Modi government banned PFI. The ‘Tees Maar Khan’ (leaders) of PFI are in jail now. The PFI has become a lifeline for the Congress. They are sympathising with PFI for personal gain… Because of such behaviour of the Congress, a bomb blast took place in a cafe in Bengaluru,” PM Modi alleged.
Referring to the murder of Neha Hiremath — a 23-year-old MCA student and the daughter of a Congress councillor of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, PM Modi said a government hungry for vote banks can’t protect the masses.
“In Congress rule, our daughters are not safe. In a college in Hubbali, a daughter was stabbed and killed in broad daylight. People involved in such activities are not scared at all. The family is tense. This is the result of Congress’ policies. When there was a blast in the cafe, their first statement was that a gas cylinder had exploded… Then they said that it was due to a business rivalry. Finally, the NIA investigation revealed the dangerous plans and the culprits were arrested from West Bengal… What was Neha’s fault?… A government hungry for vote banks cannot protect you,” PM Modi added.
Neha Hiremath was stabbed to death on the campus of the BVB College, earlier this month. The accused, Fayaz Khondunaik, was her classmate.
Neha’s family claimed she was murdered for refusing Fayaz’s marriage proposal.
While the Congress government claimed the nature of the crime was personal, the BJP alleged “love jihad”.
Meanwhile, in another rally in Karnataka, PM Modi claimed a civil war was going on within the Congress party. The remark came on a day when Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned from his post.
“The day is not far when the ‘civil war’ going on within the different factions of Congress internally will come on roads. All the factions will blame one another for losing the elections,” he said.
With inputs from ANI, PTI