Will ask EC to look into my alleged Rs 10,000-cr publicity blitzkrieg, says NaMo
Amid questions being raised by the Congress over the funding of his publicity blitzkrieg, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed readiness for a probe in the issue by any Government agency and even offered to write to the Election Commission himself if there was “any hurdle” in ordering a probe on account of the Model Code of Conduct in force. He said the probe should be completed within 30 days so that the truth is presented before the nation.
With Union Minister and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma alleging that Modi had spent a whopping Rs 10,000 crore, out of which 90 per cent was black money, on publicity during the ongoing elections, he said: “Rs 10,000 crore is a big amount. The Government has all the agencies. They should ask whose money is this. From where did it come and where was it spentIJ”
Sharma should write to the EC so that the poll body also conducts a probe to ascertain how much BJP spent on publicity and how much of it was black money, he asserted, while appearing in an interview on India TV’s programme Aap Ki Adalat, hosted by channel’s chief, Rajat Sharma. He further said, there is an Enforcement Directorate, they should also get them to investigate.
He termed as a “lie” Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s charges that he had given farmers’ land to corporate houses in Gujarat at low prices. He stressed how the Supreme Court too had appreciated the State’s land policy. He said the allegation was motivated by political considerations. “I say, is the Government of India asleepIJ Isn’t it its responsibility to reprimand a Chief Minister if he is involved in such malpracticesIJ Why aren’t they taking any actionIJ” he asked.
Regarding the party’s decision to expel Jaswant Singh from the BJP for contesting against the official BJP candidate from Barmer, he maintained that the senior leader “has just written a review of one of my biographies”, and that the decision to deny him the ticket was not his but was taken on the basis of the State Election Committee’s recommendation.
On the ties between him and party’s veteran lK Advani, who was upset with him on three occasions, Modi said he didn’t think that was ever the case and dismissed all news reports as rumours.
Modi responded to a wide range of questions including why he did not wear a Muslim skull cap, whether he ever caught a crocodile baby from a lake and took him home and the perceived one-man rule in BJP. “I have not seen Gandhi wear this topi, or Vallabhai Patel or even Jawahar lal Nehru. There has been a change in Indian politics over the years. This change is that in the name of appeasement, do anything. But I have to live with my own traditions, and that’s why I can’t do this misdeed of wearing a topi and then trying to fool the people,” he said.
When reminded that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said that in public life, one has to wear both tilak and skull caps, Modi said, “If he (Nitish) thinks that it helps in taking care of sentiments then it’s his thought. I believe that their children should get better education. They should have Quran in one hand and computer in the other hand.” “lekin agar koi kisi ki topi uchaalta hai, to main usko kadi se kadi sazaa dene ka maan rakhta hoon. (If somebody humiliates someone else, then I feel they should be punished).”
Hitting out at the Congress, he remarked that today the entire party is busy generating income for just one family and that is what has led to Congress’ fall. “Instead of improving the economy of the nation, they are busy generating income for one family,” he said.
Denying there’s one man’s rule in the party, he said: “BJP is a huge organization. It works in that structure. There is a galaxy of leaders who are equally competent. Previously we worked under Atalji’s guidance. Then we worked under Advani, Harshvardhan in Delhi, Shivraj Singh in MP and in Rajasthan we worked under Vasundhara Raje. So responsibilities are distributed according to the party’s goal. Right now I have been given this role and I have to do what the party has asked me to do. I am a worker of the party. We are a team.”
When asked by an audience member if he had ever caught a crocodile baby from the lake and taken it home, Modi admitted he did. This incident has also appeared in the tales about ‘Bal Narendra’. Modi said, “I was brave, not naughty. There was a lake in my village and I loved to swim in that lake. I even had to wash my clothes there. So one day I picked up a crocodile baby and took it home. later on, I even took it to school and my teachers were very upset.”
Responding to senior SP leader Azam Khan’s remarks wherein he called him “Kutte ke bachche ka bada bhai”, Modi said, “Thank you, because I don’t think when it comes to loyalty there’s anything better than a dog.”
On the controversy generated by his ‘puppy’ comment in the context of the killings in the Gujarat 2002 riots, he insisted that he did not call anybody a ‘puppy’ but was only expressing sympathy. To buttress his argument, Modi said, “There is a saying that one is pained even if an ant dies. Now, if somebody says that I am calling a human being an ant, it is their problem.”
Modi also refuted claims that land was given to Tatas for Nano. “In reality, Nano was not given a single inch land from the State government. No agricultural land was given to Nano,” he said.