Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a fresh attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress for being soft on “terror” and pointed out that the previous SP Government had withdrawn cases against terrorists responsible for 14 incidents.
Addressing election rallies in Hardoi and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh (UP), which are going to polls in the fourth phase on February 23, Modi said: “Our country has been facing terrorism of Jihadi organisations for the past several decades. When a terror attack takes place, it hurts the poor and the middle class the most. Tourism and trade get affected. However, Opposition parties are soft on terror because of their vote bank politics. The SP withdrew cases against terrorists responsible for 14 attacks in UP, some of whom were given capital punishment and life imprisonment by courts later on. They withdrew cases against those responsible for the attack on Sankat Mochan Temple in Kashi and Lucknow court.”
Turning his attack on the Congress, the PM said Congress leaders called a terrorist like Osama Bin Laden “Osamaji” and shed tears on the killing of a terrorist in the Batla House encounter. “And we have built the National War Memorial and National Police Memorial,” he said.
Modi said that during their terms a series of blasts took place in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, etc., adding that when he saw bloodshed of innocent people in Ahmedabad, he pledged to teach the culprits a lesson, and recently the court awarded them the death sentence.
Modi also cautioned voters against the venom of casteism being spread by Opposition parties, adding that they do not belong to any caste, or community and all that matters to them is their families’ development rather than the development of the State and its people.
“It’s time to give a fitting reply through your votes to those who played havoc with the State by giving patronage to the mafia and gangsters; who withdrew cases against terrorists responsible for the killings of innocent people for their vote bank politics; and those who spread rumours against Covid-19 vaccines that protected people’s lives during the pandemic”, the PM said.
Hitting out at SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and Priyanka Gandhi the PM said that their politics revolved around their mafia friends and families respectively, and they had nothing to do with development and the welfare of the people.
Modi said: “SP’s CM candidate himself is unsafe on his seat. That’s why he had to call his father, who had a humiliating ouster from the party, to campaign for him.”
He added: “People of UP are saying, ‘Jo suraksha laye hain, jo samman laye hain, hum unko layenge.’ The people of UP will celebrate Holi twice this year, first on March 10 when the BJP gets a thumping majority in the Assembly polls.”
He said that the Opposition parties were not concerned about the welfare of poor people, farmer’s uplift, safety and security of girls and women and employment of the youth, adding that they were best at making false promises to the people.
Modi remarked: “When they were in power, they could never ensure adequate supply of electricity. In fact, during the previous Government power cuts were normal and power supply was news in UP. When a transformer got burnt down in an area, it remained without power for months. So, they can never give you electricity, but they can give you electric shocks.”
“They could hardly give houses to the poor and built only 34,000 toilets while the Yogi Adityanath-led Government has built 70,000 houses and 5 lakh toilets in Hardoi alone in the last five years. A total of 23 lakh people have got property cards in UP under the double engine Government, he pointed out.
“The Yogi Government has also made record purchases of wheat from farmers and record payments to sugarcane farmers, which the SP and BSP could never do. Besides, farmers are getting money transferred to their accounts under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. I believe that small farmers can play a big role in alleviating poverty in villages. The previous Government shut down 21 sugar mills in UP”, he said.