 "Narendra Modi")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday claimed that the Congress-led opposition was staring at an imminent defeat after completion of four phases of polls and seeking excuses to cover up the same like a batsman who blames the umpire upon being clean bowled.
They began with hurling abuses at Modi, all day long. When they realized it was not paying electoral dividends they changed tack and started complaining about faulty EVMs. After four phases of elections, they have become flustered and started pointing fingers at the Election Commission, Modi told an election rally in this remote Lok Sabha constituency located along the Indo-Nepal border.
These are all excuses with which they want to explain away their imminent defeat. They are like the batsman who blames the umpire upon being clean bowled. They also remind me of the student, who flunks in examination and blames his failure on everything except his own lack of preparedness, he said wryly.
The Prime Minister also charged the Congress, which has ruled the country for so long, with lacking a clear vision with regard to combating terror and said I was appalled to see that they have promised in their manifesto, among other things, withdrawal of special powers given to armed forces in insurgency-hit areas and abolition of the sedition law.
They do not realize the consequences. They are unmindful that if the armed forces are divested of the special powers, they will end up spending their time and energy in appearing before courts for cases that secessionists may frame them in. And they are promising scrapping of sedition law which would only embolden extremists and the pattharbaaz gang (stone- pelting mobs phenomenon recently observed in the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir), Modi claimed.
They are simply clueless about how to combat terrorism, naxalism or any other type of security threat. And what disgusts me most as the language they have ended up speaking reminds us of what the Pakistanis keep on using, he alleged.
Before we came to power in 2014, not a month used to pass without some corner of the country or another being rocked by bomb explosions. That has been effectively checked since we took over. The credit goes not to Modi but to your vote which helped a strong government come to power. You, through your vote, sent the message across that India will no longer take things lying down, the prime minister said.
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Speaking in the presence of alliance partners - Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan who head the JD(U) and the LJP respectively-, Modi also took a veiled dig at the proposed NYAY scheme of the Congress, saying they could not help the poor in getting their accounts opened in banks and now they have suddenly begun to promise direct cash transfer. Beware of their misleading promises.
About another poll plank of the Congress waiver of loans to farmers Modi said they made a similar promise ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. And after the elections, they waived loans to the tune of a meagre Rs 54,000 crore when debts ran into nearly Rs six lakh crore. And, as the CAG later pointed out, many of the so-called beneficiaries had their loans waived despite not being engaged in agriculture. They want to indulge in a similar fraud once again.
It has been an old trait of the Congress. They promised to the people of Gujarat that they would build houses for the poor and got many people sign forms to make their tall talk credible. Nobody got these houses which remained on paper. In Rajasthan, where they have come to power, they are again making people sign forms saying these were meant to enroll them for the NYAY scheme which promises remittance of Rs 72,000 per year. Beware of such scams, Modi alleged.
The Prime Minister also sought to draw a contrast between the Congress and the BJP saying whenever his party was in power it handled volatile issues with care unlike the opposition party which often left the country in turmoil.
When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power, three states of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh came into being. All these new entities have excellent and cordial relations with the parent states. Compare that with Telangana which was carved out of Andhra Pradesh under Congress rule. So much of bitterness prevails between the two states despite both being peopled by Telugu-speaking citizens, Modi said.
Similarly, we have seen so much of tension in the past on the issue of caste-based reservations. There has been rumor- mongering that quotas are under threat. We demonstrated by introducing quotas for the economically weaker sections among the general category, without infringing on the rights of other social groups, how these things should be handled, he asserted.
Nitish Kumar has worked very hard to pull Bihar out of the lantern age, Modi remarked in a lighter vein in a veiled dig at Lalu Prasads RJD which is the main opposition party in the state, and added please do remember whichever NDA constituent you vote for your vote shall be going to Modi.
Seeking to strike a rapport with the local populace, Modi began his speech that lasted 40 minutes with a few sentences in the local dialect Bhojpuri evoking rapturous response by the crowds.
He also spoke of the NDAs role in getting the Tharus a tribe populating the terai region along the Indo-Nepal border
the Scheduled Tribe status.
Modi also said that he had drawn the inspiration for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan from Mahatma Gandhis satyagrah in Champaran. He also showered praise on Bhagirathi a local BJP MLA who has been awarded the Padma Shri in recognition of her social work.
