Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday raked up the Ayodhya issue at a public rally in Muzaffarnagar saying Akhilesh Yadav was not in favour of the Ram temple and that the Congress too did not do anything about it during its rule. Seeking votes for BJP candidate Sanjeev Baliyan ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Shah said it was the Narendra Modi government that honoured people’s sentiment and built the Ram temple in Ayodhya. (Also Read: Amit Shah asks Eshwarappa to withdraw candidature, rebel BJP leader says not changing mind)

Shah’s speech was punctuated with appeals for the electorate to support Modi’s candidacy for a third term as prime minister, portraying the upcoming Lok Sabha election as a pivotal moment in India’s trajectory. He also lauded PM Modi’s initiatives aimed at socio-economic development.

“This (Lok Sabha) election is to elect Narendra Modi as the PM for a third term. PM Modi has done a lot of work for the upliftment of poor and farmers. He formulated a national policy for sugarcane farmers, thereby bringing a lot of changes.”

(Read: ‘There can be no comparison between PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi’: Amit Shah

Rallying support for the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a rare third term, Shah said the prime minister “removed Article 370 and made Kashmir an integral part of India”.

“Kashmir belongs to us. When you made PM Narendra Modi Prime Minister for the 2nd time, he removed Article 370 and made Kashmir an integral part of India. PM Narendra Modi did the job of ending terrorism in Kashmir… He has made the nation secure and prosperous,” he said.

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He also said that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has stopped the migration of people from western Uttar Pradesh and it is the criminals who are migrating now.

Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary, who accompanied Shah at the rally, hailed the government for conferring the Bharat Ratna to Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Chaudhary said none of the INDIA bloc leaders have said a word on Chaudhary Charan Singh getting the Bharat Ratna.