PoK belongs to India, we will take it back at any cost: Amit Shah

Sitamarhi (Bihar), May 16 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday asserted that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) belongs to India and the country will take it back "at any cost".

Addressing an election rally in Sitamarhi Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, the former BJP president slammed the Congress-led opposition for "raising fear about Pakistan's atomic power".

"When Article 370 was scrapped, Rahul Gandhi had said that it would lead to bloodshed. Five years have elapsed and not a pebble has been hurled. But Congress's ally Farooq Abdullah tries scaremongering by saying that we cannot take back PoK as Pakistan has atom bombs," Shah asserted.

"I wish to declare from the birthplace of Goddess Sita that Bharat and its 140 crore people fear no one. Pakistan occupied Kashmir is ours and it will remain so. We will take it back," he said.

Shah said the Modi government will also ensure full security along the India-Nepal border in its third term.

Attacking the INDIA bloc, he said, "Lalu Prasad-led RJD has joined hands with the Congress that opposed the Mandal Commission's recommendations but PM Modi has given respect to lakhs of people from the backward classes. Lalu joined hands with the Congress only to make his son, Tejashwi Yadav, the chief minister of Bihar... but the state needs 'vikasraj, not 'jungelraj'." "Congress ruled the country for 60 years but did not think about welfare of 60 crore OBCs. Congress and RJD never thought of conferring Bharat Ratna on former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur... it was done by the Modi government," he said.

Shah said that the NDA government has decided to develop 'Punaura Dham Mandir', a temple in Sitamarhi district considered to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita, as an international pilgrimage site.

"After Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, we will construct a massive temple of Sita Mata in Sitamarhi," he said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's cabinet has approved Rs 72.47 crore for the development of the temple.

Senior JD (U) leader and Bihar Legislative Council chairman Devesh Chandra Thakur is the NDA nominee from Sitamarhi Lok Sabha seat.

Shah will address another election rally in Madhubani Lok Sabha seat later in the day.

Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur Lok Sabha seats will go to polls in the fifth phase on May 20. PTI