BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday dubbed the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as "KASAB" – adding yet another acronym in the Uttar Pradesh poll campaign. He said development will elude Uttar Pradesh till "Kasab is laid to rest".
Elaborating on the acronym at an election meeting here, he said,
In this election, people of UP should get rid of KASAB. I say it again, people of UP should get rid of Kasab. Do not take any other meaning when I say Kasab. What I mean by KASAB is – KA for Congress, SA for Samajwadi Party and B for BSP.
Shah made these comments while seeking to draw a parallel between the rival parties and the Mumbai attack perpetrator Ajmal Kasab.
"Until and unless Kasab is laid to rest, development and prosperity will continue to elude the poll-bound state.
"In other words, it means that the state may have to languish further, if there is no respite from these political parties," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has coined 'SCAM' for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati, and dubbed the BSP as 'Behenji Sampatti Party'. BSP supremo Mayawati has described BJP as 'Bhartiya Jumla (rhetoric) Party' and punned with Modi's initials saying they stood for "Mr Negative Dalit Man." Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had his own explanation for SCAM – ‘Save Country from Amit Shah and Modi’.
UP Is Number One in Crime Against Women, Hooliganism: Amit Shah
The BJP President exuded confidence that the party would storm to power in Uttar Pradesh with two-thirds majority.
"Voters of the state are fed up with the misrule under successive SP and BSP governments, which lasted for nearly 14 years, and they are desperately seeking a change," he said.
Taking a jibe at UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he said, "Akhilesh says 'kaam boltaa hai (performance speaks), but no work appears to have been done so far. But the state has emerged as number one in terms of crime against women, rape, loot and hooliganism."
Shah claimed that the SP already knew it was fighting a losing battle in the UP polls, and hence, it went for a pre-poll alliance with the Congress.
He also termed Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh as two princes -- one giving tough times to his mother and the other to his father. And the voters of UP are feeling troubled by both of them, Shah added.
The Congress condemned BJP chief Amit Shah's "KASAB" remarks, saying it reflects the party's communal mindset.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters that there is need to end acronyms and the manner in which Shah has said shows the BJP's communal mindset that should be "strongly condemned".
"There is need to end acronyms. BJP's repulsive thinking is brought out. It shows the party's communal mindset and they speak divisive in everything," he said.
The Congress leader said the statement of Shah is in violation of the Model Code of Conduct and needs to be "strongly condemned" and is "reprehensible".
"It is not a question of Kasab. Everybody acknowledges that he was a criminal. The question is symbolic to try and make it communal by bringing in Congress, SP, BSP," he said.
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