Enthused by the large gathering of ex-servicemen at the concluding rally of the month-long Parivartan Yatra at Tapkeswar in Dehradun on Monday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar went all out to woo them ahead of the crucial election in the State. He asked them to contrast the present situation on the border with what prevailed in the past. “Earlier, it was a practice to shed idle tears over the loss of lives caused by terror on the border. Now we retaliate before we pay our final respects to the martyrs and consign their mortal remains to the flames,” he said.
He further said the NDA regime led by the Prime Minster Narendra Modi has been sincerely striving to rise up to the just expectations of the soldiers who are keeping round the clock vigil to protect the borders from the alien incursion. “The regime holds the soldiers and the ex-Army men in the highest esteem. Which is why the PM cleared the One Rank One Pension (OROP) for the ex-servicemen. Although few technical problems still persist he has assured that they would be sorted out soon,” Parrikar said.
Taking a swipe at the Congress, he said that they had been sleeping over the four-decade long OROP demand. “Now they are unhappy as we met the long-standing demand just two years after we assumed charge of the Centre,” he said.
Speaking of the controversial demonitisation move, he said that the PM had launched the courageous move, eyes fixed on the welfare of the poor. “The poor were at the receiving end of the huge quantum of black money being hoarded by a few. They amassed enormous amount of wealth by sucking the blood of the poor. Now, they are at the receiving end of things being reduced to pauper by the revolutionary move of the Prime Minister,” he said.
While dwelling on the raft of welfare measures the Narendra Modi government has embarked on during its two and half year tenure, the defence minister said that Uttarakhand would see massive scale of development too in case a BJP-led government assumed power following the upcoming election.
Nearly all the important state BJP leaders on the stage, the rally marking the end of the Parivartan Yatra, the speakers pilloried the Harish Rawat government while exhorting the people to oust it from power. Union health minister JP Nadda said that though the Harish Rawat government has been blaming the Centre for the non-release of developmental funds the fault is lying with it. “They have failed to send utilization certificates (UC) to the Centre. The state government is to blame as they are neither sending demands for new projects nor are they sending UCs for the further release of funds for the ongoing projects,” he said.
Former state cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat alleged that the Harish Rawat government had been promoting a particular liquor brand at the expense of others because of the CM’s intimacy with the particular liquor baron. “They are forcing the liquor outlets to sell only the brand which the CM is promoting, his finger in the pie. When I resisted the move I was offered Rs five crore as a price to have my mouth shut. But I am not one to be bought when principles are at stake. I decided to quit the government and then the party,” he said.
He asked the ex-servicemen to answer whether what he was alleging was true or not. “Are you getting the brand as per your choiceIJ” he asked. The crowd roaring in affirmation of the leader’s charge, the Congress rebel –turned BJP leader smiled a smile of satisfaction.