Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday charged the Congress with having placed vote bank politics above national interest while it was in power at the Centre.
He said lies are being spread that his government introduced 10 per cent reservation for the weaker sections of the unreserved categories will eventually do away with the quota system.
In a bid to reach out to the farmers, the prime minister announced that in his next term he will ensure that the ceiling of ownership of five acres of land for beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Nidhi Yojana is made available to all.
"The country has witnessed two types of politics of vote bhakti and of desh bhakti. The former was on display when after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks the government of the day did not go after Pakistan for abetting terror.
"It rather chose to derail the investigations in many terror cases by coming up with the theory of Hindu terror. Desh bhakti was demonstrated by us when the Uri terror attack was replied with surgical strike and Pulwama was followed by air strikes," Modi told an election rally here.
The politics of 'vote bhakti' was again on display when the Congress insulted martyrs of the Batla House encounter in New Delhi by casting doubts over the operation in which security personnel were killed, he said.
A team of Delhi Police had raided a Batla House flat in south Delhi following a tip-off that terrorists involved in the September 13, 2008 serial blasts in the national capital, were holed up there.
"The trends of the first two phases of elections have left them rattled. They are not demanding proofs of the Balakot air strike," Modi claimed at the rally.
Leaders of BJP allies Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who heads the JD(U), and cabinet colleague Ram Vilas Paswan, who is the founder of the LJP - were also in the stage.
In a veiled attack on Lalu Prasad's RJD and its heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, Modi said, "In Bihar some people are purveying lies that the quota for economically weaker sections was a step in the direction of finishing off reservations."
Asking the people to be cautious about them, he alleged that they have been running their shops with such falsehoods for two decades - "first by the father and now by the son".
He also made a mention of the welfare schemes launched by his government including the Ayushman Bharat Yojana which provides medical insurance cover at a small premium.
Seeking to strike a chord with the local populace, he spoke movingly of the renowned Hindi writer Phanishwar Nath Renu, who hailed from Araria district, and said he had received a copy of his renowned novel "Maila Anchal" as a gift from the late litterateur's son.
He sought votes for NDA candidates in adjoining constituencies of Madhepura, Jhanjharpur, Supaul and Khagaria, all of which go to polls in the third phase on April 23.
As these seats have a sizeable population of Yadavs, Modi deftly played the caste card saying, "I come from the land of Dwarka (Gujarat) and it has a very strong affinity with the gau-paalaks (those involved in the profession of rearing cows).
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
