Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed public meetings in Shimla and Mandi in the hill state and slammed Congress for corruption, misgovernance, and anti-women policies while highlighting the welfare and developmental initiatives undertaken by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. 

He called the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh a ''talabaaz sarkar'' for shutting down the staff selection commission and said the party also intends to put a ''tala'', or lock, on Ayodhya's Ram temple.

Addressing an election programme in Nahan in Sirmaur district, he claimed a conspiracy is being hatched to snatch the reservation from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and give it to Muslims.

As Modi took to the stage, he chanted 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and evoked local deities. Coming to Sirmaur felt like a homecoming, he said. ''Neither Nahan nor Sirmaur is new for me but I have to say that today's atmosphere is new as I have never witnessed such a historic rally in Nahan,'' he told the crowd at the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp' rally.

''I have come here to seek your blessings for a third term for the BJP, not for myself or my family but for a developed nation and developed Himachal.'' The prime minister said the people of Himachal Pradesh live along the border and know the value of a strong nation. ''I assure you that I won't let any harm come to you,'' he said. ''Main jaan ki baji laga dunga per Himachal per sankat nahin aane dunga.'' Modi said he has visited every nook and corner of Himachal Pradesh during his days in the party organisation and he considers the state his second home.

Hitting out at the Congress over the dissolution of the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission (HPSSC), Modi said let alone giving one lakh jobs to the youth, the ''talabaaz sarkar'' of the Congress put a lock on the recruitment commission. In February last year, the Sukhu government disbanded the HPSSC whose functioning was suspended after a paper leak was detected in December 2022. In October last year, the state government notified the Himachal Pradesh Rajya Chayan Aayog (HPRCA) to replace the Hamirpur-based HPSSC.

Modi further said, ''The Congress opposed the Ram temple and mocked us with slogans like 'mandir wahin banayenge, tareekh nahin btayenge' (Will build the temple there only, but won't tell the date).'' ''We not only declared the date but also performed the Pran Pratishtha (of the Ram temple) and the Congress boycotted it to appease its vote bank.'' The prime minister claimed that an aide of a top Congress leader has said that a conspiracy is being hatched to put a lock on the Ram temple in Ayodhya and shift Ram Lalla to a tent again if the party wins the Lok Sabha polls.

Modi also alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to snatch the reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs and give it to Muslims.

The Congress has already done it in Karnataka, he said. The Calcutta High Court has quashed OBC certificates conferred on 77 classes of Muslims to please the Muslim vote bank but West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not honouring the court order, he said.

The HC on Wednesday struck down as illegal the OBC status of several classes in West Bengal granted since 2010, observing that the inclusion of 77 classes of Muslims in the list of backward categories was to ''treat them as vote bank''.

There are poor people in upper castes as well, Modi said, adding his government has provided a 10 per cent quota for the upper caste poor without snatching it from any other caste.

Modi also targeted the Congress for not accepting the demand for 'one rank one pension (OROP)' and said his government not only implemented the promise made to ex-servicemen but has so far disbursed Rs 1.25 lakh crore for it.

He said the Congress did not accept the demand for OROP for 40 years but after he declared at a rally of ex-servicemen in Jhajjar, Haryana in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that the BJP would do it, the Congress ''insulted'' the veterans by earmarking just Rs 500 crore for the scheme.

Earlier, Pakistan used to commit excesses (''sar pe naachta tha'') and the ''weak'' Congress government looked at other countries for help. ''But, today we fight our own battle and kill the enemy by in their own territory.'' Appealing to the 2.50 lakh people of Hatti community of the Trans Giri area of Sirmaur district, the PM said the Centre has given them tribal status but the Congress-led state government has failed to extend them the benefits.

''When the people of Himachal Pradesh know the Congress is not going to form a government in Delhi, why should anybody vote for them? The people of Himachal Pradesh are very intelligent and they will not waste their votes,'' he said.