Taking note of the buzz around the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi abstained from making the usual barbs at the Congress, questioned the media for failing to see ‘navratnas’ beyond Delhi and appealed to voters to back “experienced leaders with a vision’ rather than “political rookies”.
With some surveys predicting a good show by the fledging party in the national poll — where Modi has a lot at stake, the Gujarat Chief Minister talked about other leaders of his party who have been serving the nation selflessly.
In the nearly hour-long speech, Modi did not name Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal even once but left no one in doubt about his target by saying that had Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar been in Delhi, things would have been different. “He is an educated leader who lives a simple life. But the media cannot see beyond Delhi. There are several navratnas who live for the country,” Modi said in front of a strong crowd at the Vijay Sankalp Rally here on Sunday.
Modi took potshots at those questioning the BJP’s commitment and integrity and asked them to look at
former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who did not have a house of his own even after so many years at the helm in the BJP and as Prime Minister of India during its glorious period. “Even, I have been serving the people of Gujarat for the last 12 years without thinking about myself,” Modi said, adding, “time tested people were needed to lead the country.”
Modi also coined the “Vote for India” slogan in an apparent bid to make the forthcoming Parliamentary polls an election battle that was not contested around personalities or political parties. Modi spared Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is seen as he Congress’ answer to him, but was at his characteristic best in tearing into Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi whom he blamed for having failed to provide leadership to the country.
“Somebody should ask these people what they have done in the last ten years. They have taken this country back by 50 years,” he said referring to increasing inflation, corruption and lack of employment opportunities for the youth. He went on to describe Manmohan Singh’s regime as the worst-ever period since Independence and claimed the PM, who came from a non-political background, failed to live up to expectations of the nation.
“Congress is not only to be blamed. Even those who have provided support to it for all these years are to be equally blamed,” he said. Modi repeated his call for a Congress-free India, but elaborated that in saying so he did not mean Congress only as an institution. He described Congress as a ‘culture’ that promotes corruption, dynastic politics, religion divide, caste politics without doing any good to the country.
Modi made a veiled reference to the removal of Jayanti Natarjan from Environment Ministry, saying for the first time he had heard of “Jayanti tax” apparently referring to swirling allegations during her tenure. “There was a storm over the Environment Ministry and all files were blocked. No file was moving without money. We had heard of income, sales and excise taxes but for the first time, we heard about a Jayanti tax in Delhi without which nothing was moving.
“Till the time that was not paid, files could not be moved in the Environment Ministry. I have never experienced it myself as I never need it but we are shocked on this. What kind of systems have they developed,” he said. The BJP’s PM candidate also outlined his agenda saying he was for decentralisation of power, which would come bundled with accountability, and would work towards strengthening of constitutional institutions. Modi claimed the concept of federalism has taken a big hit under the UPA Government and his idea is to strengthen it.