Invoking Past, Irani Blows The Poll Bugle In HP

Gopal Puri

| Updated: 27 May, 2022 10:03 pm IST

CHAMBI (HIMACHAL PRADESH): “Speak loudly, ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Your voice should reach Amethi to the ears of that ‘Yuvraj’ whose mother during the Congress regime had dictated the lawyers to tell the court that Ram doesn’t exist”.

Union minister of women and child development Smriti Irani minced no words as she blew the poll bugle at Chambi ground in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh on Friday.

Irani raised the issue from 2007 when the then Congress-led central government had submitted an affidavit in court that Valmiki Ramayana and Ramcharitmans are an important part of Indian literature but these are not historical records.

“Valmiki Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas admittedly form an important part of ancient Indian literature but these cannot be said to be historical records to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters and occurrences of events depicted therein,” the government had told the court in September 2007 during Congress regime.

Citing observations of poll strategist Prashant Kishor, whom the Congress had tasked to draw a roadmap for its revival, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said, “Even PK has given up managing the affairs of Congress. He told them (Congress) to forget about Himachal and Gujarat.”

While Irani said that the Congress party has failed to manage its own affairs and is eyeing people like Prashant Kishore for help. “How will they handle the state, if they cannot handle their own party” she wondered.

Union Minister Irani and CM Thakur were speaking at the Tridev Sammelan which was launched to mobilise Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s booth-level workers ahead of the assembly elections later this year.