Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi slammed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday for heading an "insensitive government" and, in a veiled reference, attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "making a mockery of peoples' poverty".
"The Congress culture of arrogance is at the peak now, India's over 1.25 billion people are fighting with acute poverty and inflation while its leaders are busy with giving new definitions of poverty," Modi said at a rally in Chhattisgarh, ruled by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"The failure of Manmohan Singh has led the economic situation to such a level that the rupee has landed in hospital where it is battling for life and death," Modi said at the rally in Chhattisgarh's tribal heartland Ambikapur town, headquarters of sprawling Surguja region, some 250 km from Raipur.
Modi, who addressed thousands of people from a Red Fort-shaped dais, made a veiled attack on Gandhi in his 25-minute speech, saying: "People are battling with acute poverty and inflation while the Congress leaders are making a joke of the people's plight as they have lost 'connect' with people and their problems."
"The Congress is running a highly insensitive government at the centre, some of its leaders say that even Rs.5 is enough for getting stomach-full food in a day while one leader (referring to Gandhi) made the biggest joke of people's plight and termed poverty a state of mind," Modi said.
Without naming Gandhi, Modi said: "He poured acid on poor people's plight and misery by saying poverty is 'a state of mind', his grandmother must have been pained who wanted to alleviate poverty."
BJP president Rajnath Singh and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh also addressed the rally, held to mark the conclusion of the latter's over 6,000 km long Vikas Yatra in the state where assembly elections are scheduled for December.