Giving a befitting reply to Rahul Gandhi's emotional call to voters, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Friday said he was not interested in sharing tear-jerking stories but questioned why an intelligence official shared secret information with an MP and demanded the Congress vice-president to reveal the name of those officials.
“The Congress Yuvraj should either name the official or should apologise publically for falsely blaming the youth for being in touch with Pakistan's intelligence agency (ISI),” Modi said, while addressing a public rally in Jhansi on Friday. He said the UPA is in power. This is shameful that the ISI is approaching Muslim youths and trying to lure them right under their nose. “What is the UPA Government doingIJ Why action has not been takenIJ,” asked Modi.
He tore into the Congress during his fiery 50-minute speech where he said that he had not come there to shed tears but to wipe tears from the eyes of the people. This was the answer to Rahul's emotional call by retelling the story of the assassination of his grandmother and father and how angry he felt at that time.
“This is like rubbing salt into the wounds. When Congress leaders killed Sikhs, Congress Yuvraj didn't get angry. Those leaders who led that pogrom are yet to be punished. Why the Yuvraj does not talk about those families who lost their family in 1984 riots,” the Gujarat CM asked. It was point-wise rebuttal to Rahul's emotional allurement. Modi even questioned Rahul's promise of special Bundelkhand package. “Did you get benefits of that package,” he taunted. The crowd answered in unison “no”.
“Do not ask for package, just send them packing,” Modi said and the crowd roared again. Making a fervent appeal to the people to vote for the BJP, he said that people have seen 60 years of the Congress rule and now they should give the BJP at least 60 months. He even coined a slogan: 60 years versus 60 months. “I would be your chowkidar who would not allow anyone to lay their hand (Congress election symbol) on the public exchequer,” he said, adding that the country should get rid of troika of the SP, the BSP and the Congress.
This Jhansi rally was second in the series of Modi's rallies. Bundelkhand has of late witnessed large-scale political upheaval with hopping and chopping in the BSP and the SP This trend, BJP leaders feel, is favourable for them. The sitting SP MP from Banda, RK Singh Patel, has joined the BSP while BSP's own MP from Hamirpur, Vijay Bahadur Singh, has been sacked from the party for showering praises on Narendra Modi.
For BJP, the Bundelkhand rally has provided much awaited boost. The party had tried to gain foothold in 2012 when it fielded Uma Bharati from Charkhari in Hamirpur. The move paid dividend and it won 3 out of 19 Assembly seats. But it was not enough to make an impact in the political canvas of Uttar Pradesh. The best performance of the BJP was in 1991 when party won 16 Assembly seats from here.
This rally did make a difference. Party workers came from far-flung regions of Bundelkhand to hear Modi. “I voted for the BSP last time, but now I am a Modi supporter, and has come from Chitrakoot to attend this rally,” Kailash Agarwal said.
The party also arranged a 20-bogie special train from Chitrakoot --- the train was called NaMo Express and carried over 8,000 people. “Have you ever seen such a multitude of people in BundelkhandIJ No. Such a large number of people proves that the BJP is set to sweep not only Uttar Pradesh but whole of India,' Namit Singh said.