Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the Congress is an “expert” in reversing the country’s progress and asked voters to keep it away from power for at least 100 years as he accused the party of practising the policy of “divide and rule” and creating new records in corruption. Continuing his campaign blitz in Madhya Pradesh, where he addressed three rallies in a day for the second day running to bolster the BJP’s polls prospects, Modi spoke about his welfare schemes and touched upon a range of other issues, but remained largely focused on attacking the Congress which is making a renewed bid to come back to power in the State where it lost its Government midway. Speaking at a rally in Chhatarpur ahead of the November 17 Assembly polls, he accused the Grand Old Party of ignoring the problems of Madhya Pradesh when it ruled the State.
“The way a vehicle takes us back in the reverse gear, the Congress is also an expert at reverse gear and converting good governance into bad governance,” the PM maintained.
When it was in power in MP, the party did not do anything to resolve the woes of impoverished Bundelkhand which had a rich heritage of water bodies about 100 years ago, and the people there waited for water for a long time, he said.
He asked voters to make the Congress, too, yearn for assuming position of authority by depriving it of power for at least 100 years, so that the country’s oldest political party reforms for good.
“The Congress, filled with the mentality of slavery, neither understood development of the country nor did it have anything to do with the country’s heritage,” Modi said.
The PM said he was happy the children of the poor did not have to sleep hungry during the coronavirus pandemic.
“But it is not Modi who deserves credit for it, but all of you. Because it was the power of your vote due to which Modi could feed the poor,” he said.
Mentioning the G-20 meetings held in Chhatarpur, he said for a Congress government, the entire country would have “started and ended in Delhi.”
“Schemes used to be announced in Delhi. Big foreign leaders used to come to Delhi. Big programmes used to take place in Delhi....Whenever Congress leaders took their foreign friends out of Delhi, they showed them India’s poverty. The poor have become a subject of tourism for Congress leaders who were born with golden spoons,” the prime minister said. The Congress termed Lord Ram as an imaginary character so as to stop the Hindu deity’s temple from coming up in Ayodhya, the PM alleged.
“The Congress had also opposed the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress had also opposed election of the country’s first tribal woman president. The Congress also opposes medical and engineering education in Indian languages,” he said.
While accusing the Grand Old Party of sitting on the women’s reservation bill for long, not giving a constitutional status to the OBC commission and opposing the triple talaq prohibition law, Modi alleged self-interest was supreme for the Congress even if the country had to pay for it.
“There are many projects which are now being completed by the BJP Government. The Congress was worried about its vote crop and not farmers’ fields,” he said. Modi accused the Opposition party of administering “sweet poison” by making big poll announcements like providing free electricity to people. “When the Congress promises to bring the sun and moon, you should understand that something is wrong. Whenever the Congress makes big promises, assume that it is preparing to give sweet poison. This has happened in many states,” he said.
“In one State, the Congress had promised free electricity and the people trusted it, but as soon as a Government was formed, it started increasing electricity prices. There were severe power cuts. The result was that industries collapsed and people started losing jobs,” Modi remarked.
Wherever the Congress gets power, it brings only destruction, the Prime Minister alleged. “The Congress has one ‘panja’ (hand, the party’s election symbol) which is used only to snatch things from the poor. We have to save ourselves and Madhya Pradesh from the panja of the Congress,” he asserted. At another ally in Satna, Modi said every vote in Madhya Pradesh has the power of “Trishakti” — to help the BJP form Government again in MP and strengthen the PM’s hands at the Centre.
“Your one vote is going to help the BJP form Government in MP again. Your vote will strengthen Modi in Delhi and it will also keep the corrupt Congress a hundred miles away from power in MP. That means one vote, three wonders. It is like Trishakti,” Modi said. He asked voters to keep the “corrupt” Congress away from power in the state, saying it had created crores of fake beneficiaries of government schemes. Modi said his government has built four crore pucca houses for the poor, but he has “not constructed even one house for himself.” The PM said after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, it removed from government records 10 crore fake beneficiaries created by the Congress who were taking benefits of welfare schemes. In 10 years, Modi said, the BJP government has deposited Rs 33 lakh crore directly into the bank accounts of the poor and not even a single rupee of this has been diverted. He said the Congress doesn’t have any roadmap for Madhya Pradesh’s development, while on the other side, there is “Modi’s guarantee” to fulfil promises. Referring to the ongoing construction of the Ram temple, Modi said, “Wherever I go nowadays, there is talk of Lord Ram’s temple being built in Ayodhya. There is a wave of happiness all over the country.” At his third rally in Neemuch in the Malwa-Nimar region, Modi lashed out at the Congress for what he called practicing the policy of “divide and rule” to stay in power and creating new records in corruption, and accused the opposition party of standing with foreign elements who openly conspire against India. “The Congress has always created problems for the country and has no solution for them. It governed the nation by adopting the policy of divide and rule,” Modi stated. The PM asserted that India’s stature is rising in the comity of nations, but the Congress is not comfortable with this global ascendancy. “This (global ascendancy) is happening because of you who formed the BJP government which takes tough and big decisions. This is what the Congress has not been able to digest,” Modi maintained. The PM minister said the Congress, which he said abuses him day and night, is wondering how the country’s profile is changing on the international stage. “This (India’s rising power in the world) is what is bothering the Congress. Therefore, the Congress wants to spread instability and anarchy in the country. For this, the Congress has made secret agreements. The Congress now seems to be standing with foreigners who openly conspire against India,” he said. Madhya Pradesh will have a single phase polling to elect a new 230-member assembly and votes will be counted on December 3.
