Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the people to oust the “dagi sarkar” (tainted Government) from the State and nurture the 16 year old Uttarakhand into a real “Devbhoomi” by electing the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a Government in the State. While lambasting the Congress-led State Government, Modi recalled his own deprived childhood, promising to provide maximum benefit to the poor. The PM said this while addressing a public gathering on Rishikul grounds in Haridwar on Friday. The rally was meant to bolster the prospects of the BJP candidates in the electorally high- profile Haridwar district having 11 seats, the highest for any district of the state, from one of which the chief minister Harish Rawat is also contesting. Referring to chief minister Harish Rawat, he said that if someone made a mistake and apologised the matter ends there but "one never saw such a person bereft of shame or concern".
In his attempt to strike a chord with the down-trodden people who turned up in large number, he invoked the pangs of his poverty-stricken childhood and declared that he was in power only to serve them to the best of his ability. The people who gathered erupted in loud cheers, reciprocating his empathy with them.
Not missing the opportunity to influence the Dalit voters who constitute a large chunk of the district’s electorate, Modi garlanded photograph of Sant Ravidas to mark his birth anniversary before he started his poll speech. He introduced 12 candidates, including two Congress rebels who later switched to BJP- Pranav Singh Champion contesting from Khanpur and Pradeep Batra from Roorkee.
Enthusiasm was palpable among the people who gathered in large number to catch a glimpse of the prime minister and to hear his speech long before Modi arrived. As soon as the helicopter with the PM on board flied past the Rishikul grounds at 2.21 pm, there was already a mammoth gathering, waiting to cheer him. The PM’s motorcade reached at 2.45 pm. Even after he left, the people were found dancing frenziedly to the tunes of the BJP’s election song that hails Modi as “Babbar Sher” among the lions.
“The people consider this state as the cradle of spiritualism, lauded as Devbhoomi. The quintessential Devbhoomi stands for the holy Ganga and a galaxy of seers and saints. But now, things have changed with a ‘dagi sarkar’ in the state. Time has come to re-establish the Punya Bhumi it really is,” he said in a no-holds-barred attack against Harish Rawat and his government.
likening the state to a 16-year-old child, he said as the child needs care of the parents to help him grow appropriately the state, completing 16 years of its existence, needs to be dealt with sensitively. “Rather, given the mess the state is in, it needs a double engine to help it gain the speed of development it badly needs,” he said, repeating his earlier rhetoric, meaning that one engine would propel it forward from Delhi while the other would thrust it ahead from Dehradun. “Atal Bihari Vajpayee created Uttarakhand and I vow to rebuild the state after the dream our leader dreamed,” he averred.
He also mentioned OROP while tearing into the state government for not sending any proposal on it. “This despite the fact that the state has begot so many Faujis over the years,” he said. “We have made Rs 6000 crore reach the houses of ex-servicemen and the rest Rs 6000 crores would be delivered in a year,” he said.
launching another broadside against the Congress, he said when deluge swept the Kedarnath area the leaders were busy having a good time in foreign countries. “I could say more. But I would not go that far,” he said.
While justifying the surgical strikes he clarified that there was no time to take pre-consent or hold conference before striking. He also came out in stout defence of the demonetisation move, saying that his only objective was to unearth the unaccounted cash. “We would return the money, thus recovered, to the poor,” he affirmed.