Gehlot govt wasted 5 years of Rajasthan's youth, deserves zero marks: PM

The Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan has wasted five important years of the state's youth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as he called upon the people to oust the Congress from power.

Addressing a BJP rally here, the prime minister said the Congress deserved zero marks for the government it ran in Rajasthan for the last five years.

He also accused the Congress dispensation of patronising the mafia leaking recruitment exam question papers and said when the BJP forms government, strictest action will be taken against the mafia.

The "Parivartan Sankalp Mahasabha" marked the culmination of four 'Parivartan Yatras' that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took out in the poll-bound state. Assembly elections in Rajasthan are due later this year.

Addressing the well-attended rally, Prime Minister Modi said the Ashok Gehlot government has wasted five important years of Rajasthan's youth.

The people of Rajasthan have sounded the bugle for getting rid of the Congress government for its misrule, he said.

He also targeted the Congress over the women's reservation bill.

It was never the Congress' intention to empower women, else it could have passed a women's reservation bill during its rule, the prime minister said, adding the party now supported the bill under pressure from women.

The women's reservation bill which seeks to reserve a third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women was passed by Parliament last week.

Modi said the Congress and its "ghamandiya" partners are staunch opponents of women's reservation. The prime minister has often attacked the opposition INDIA bloc as "ghamandiya" (arrogant).

Earlier, Modi was welcomed by the BJP Mahila Morcha cadre at the venue.

Modi reached the meeting venue in Dadiya village in Vatika on the outskirts of Jaipur from a nearby helipad in an open-top vehicle escorted by activists of the BJP's women wing who raised slogans in his support.