Farooq Abdullah Upset With Cong For Not Giving Bharat Ratna To Atal Bihari Vajpayee

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Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah is known to speak straight and cause a stir  .  And in surprise jibe he hit out at the Congress party for not conferring former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the Bharat Ratna.

Vajpayee was presented the country’s highest civilian award at his residence in 2015, few months after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government came to power.

“Vajpayee told me that when he made his 1st speech, Nehru went to him and said Atal you will be the PM of this nation one day. He coming from an RSS background realised that this nation can’t be built by one, but by all. Those who built this in the past can’t be forgotten. The point I have against Congress is that they should have given him the Bharat Ratna when he was in alive and in good health,” Abdullah said at a book launch event in the capital.

Abdullah also accused Narendra Modi of not maintaining the dignity of the Prime Minister’s Office and credited former prime ministers Rajiv and Indira Gandhi for where the country stands today.

“I think it is the quality of the people in the government. It is nothing else. The quality goes down to the level of forgetting what Nehru contributed to this country, what Indira Gandhi gave to this country. She gave her life. Rajiv Gandhi and other Prime Ministers- did they not give their entire time to build this nation? If we are sitting here, it is because of them. But what is he talking about? That his father and mother were abused? Is that the level of the Prime Minister? I have never used my father and my mother in my language. As Prime Minister of this nation, he has to think in a bigger way,” he stated.

On the Kartarpur Corridor opening he reportedly remarked : “The invitation from Pakistan to Indian leaders and legislators on the opening ceremony of Kartarpur corridor will bequeath both India and Pakistan a chance to further the cause of brotherhood and amity. The initiative will help the people from across the border to get wind of cultural similarities between the two nations”.