Chasing the magic figure of 44 in the J&K Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched an all out attack on the Congress and its successive allies — Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference — while accusing them of running a corrupt Government and ignoring the plight of common masses for 30 long years.
Setting his eyes on the 22 Assembly seats in the Jammu region where polling is scheduled to take place in the last two phases, the Prime Minister also tore into the Congress over its habit of frequently ‘fooling’ the voters in the State and stabbing their alliance partners in the back after enjoying perks of power.
Addressing a mammoth rally in Vijaypur area of Samba before heading to Srinagar, Modi, wearing a traditional ‘Dogra’ headgear, also tightened his party’s grip over its core constituency by appealing to the border residents to punish the Congress and defeat all its candidates in the fray.
Modi said, “Congress is very clever. When National Conference is in office they sit in their lap and when PDP lead the Government then again Congress sit in their lap and enjoy perks of power. But when people of the State start asking them about their performance, the same Congress dumps them (alliance partners) by stabbing them in the back and come out clean in front of the electorate claiming they were not responsible for any wrong doing and deserve another chance as they were not leading the Government”.
Taking a dig at the Congress, Modi asked, “if they (PDP and NC) were not performing well why Congress supported them during last 12 years in the State”.
During his half an hour speech Modi repeatedly appealed to the electorate to elect a stable Government in the State by showing exit door to the dynastic rulers who took turns one by one to rule the State with support from the Congress during all these years.
“All these three parties have come one by one and ruled the State but gave nothing to you people. It is high time to punish them and elect a BJP-led stable Government to develop Jammu & Kashmir,” Modi said amid thundering applause from the crowd.
The fourth and fifth phase of pollings are very crucial for the BJP as it is aiming to do a clean sweep in plain areas of Jammu region. Out of these 22 Assembly seats, 11 fall in Jammu district, five in Kathua, four in Rajouri and two in Samba.
At present, the BJP is consolidating its presence on all 11 seats of Jammu district while facing challenge in Rajori where it is expected to open an account by wresting seats from the Congress and the National Conference. In Kathua, the party is campaigning aggressively to win all the five seats but is likely to face triangular contest in Kathua and Billawar Assembly segments.
To woo voters spread across border areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua, Modi once again walked an extra mile while reaching out to the 12 lakh refugee population in the State.
In his address Modi said settling them in the mainstream is the responsibility of this mother nation. “I promise you all if voted to power we will address all your problems,” he said. Modi said till date their plight was ignored by the successive Governments because they were Nationalists and suffering in isolation. Modi also raised an emotive issue of discrimination with the Jammu region and appealed voters to give absolute majority to the BJP to end this disparity.
Modi said the BJP has a vision to provide job opportunities for the unemployed youths, education facilities for the girls, water for farmers and proper health care facilities for the elderly.
Striking an instant chord with the large population of border areas, Modi while acknowledging their supreme sacrifices also paid glowing tributes to civilians who lost their lives in the recent terror strikes from across the border. “like soldiers defend the frontiers of the Nation, people living in border areas are also acting as our guardians. They deserve all the praise and a pat for standing up against the enemy,” Modi added.
Praising the people of Jammu & Kashmir for coming out in large numbers despite increasing terror strikes and warnings against participating in the poll process, Modi said the misguided youth in the State is tired of holding AK-47 in hands. The youngster in J&K now want to hold Android phones rather than guns.
Modi said the electorate in the state have defeated bullet by ballot. “The fingers on an EVM is more powerful than the one on the AK 47 trigger. One can take life while another can give life to a country,” he added.