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Modi uses martyr's name to seek votes in Himachal

India Blooms News Service | | Apr 30, 2014, at 12:30 am

#Narendra Modi uses martyr's name to seek votes in Himachal Pradesh # Vikram Batra

Palampur, Apr 29 (IBNS): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday sparked off a controversy by seeking votes and invoking the famous words of Kargil war martyr Captain Vikram Batra, 'Yeh dil maange more' at a rally in Palampur in Himachal Pradesh.

"When we remember Vikram Batra, our heart says: Yeh dil maange more. The same words of Vikram Batra says to me 'Yeh dil maange more.' I want all four seats in Himachal. I want 300 lotuses across India," Modi said.

"You've given them (Congress) 60 years. Can't you give me 60 months? Yeh dil maange more! Give me 60 months," he urged.

He accused the Congress party of not being able to protect the soldiers at the border.

Modi used this phase as Captain Vikram Batra immortalised the words "Yeh dil maange more," the catch-line from an ad campaign, in an interview to NDTV before he died fighting the 1999 Kargil war.

Modi's comment, however, drew criticisms from his mother Kamal Kanta Batra, who is an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from neighbouring Hamirpur.

She has accused the Gujarat CM of being a "pseudo patriot" and has challenged him to a debate on the welfare of soldiers.

"Modi was in charge of the BJP in Himachal during the Kargil war. He was in Palampur when Vikram died. Why didn't he visit us or any martyrs family then. Why remember us after 15 years?" she said in her statement to media.

Captain Batra's father said, "The BJP must not drag his name into politics."

The Batra family also challenged Modi to withdraw the BJP's candidate against the martyr's mother "if he feels so indebted to martyrs."

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