Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday urged voters to look beyond the ‘electoral din and propaganda’ to see the reality and appealed the voters to compare the performances of the Congress and non-Congress Governments before casting their votes this election which is due next month.
The Prime Minister, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Assam since 1991, chose his home constituency to start his campaigning for the forthcoming lok Sabha polls and addressed three rallies under Jorhat and Dibrugarh lok Sabha constituencies to campaign for party candidate Bijoy Krishna Handique and Paban Singh Ghatowar respectively.
“India has progressed like never before in the last 10 years under the UPA Government. The changes that the Government brought about were unprecedented. I say this because sometimes the good work gets drowned in electoral din,” Singh said while addressing one of the rallies at Khumtai.
“Compare the work done by the Congress and non-Congress Governments. No other decade has recorded as much development as it has been in the last 10 years,” the Prime Minister claimed and even listed achievements of his Government in sectors including health, agriculture, education etc.
“Between 2004 and 2011, poverty declined three times faster. During the period, an estimated 14 crore people were pulled out of poverty,” he said.
“Anyone can go through our achievements and the work done by the non-Congress parties when they were in power. No other decade has recorded so much development as has been in the last ten years. Special attention was given to the marginalised and underprivileged in the society. We ensured that the weak had a share in the development,” he said.
laying special stress on the youth, Singh said the Congress plans to give skill training to about 5 crore youths by 2017. Singh, also invoked his 'Assam connection' and said that he was ‘very attached’ to the Northeastern State and has taken personal interest in the development of the States.
“There is a lot of scope for speedy development of Assam. We have tried our best to do so,” he claimed.The Prime Minister also launched a vehement attack on the BJP and said that party lacks a strong policy or programme for nation-building.
“Their politics is based on only one man,” Singh said without taking the name of BJP prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
“We are accused of doing nothing to curb corruption. But the truth is that no other Government took up as much steps as we did to tackle corruption. The BJP often talks of corruption but let me assert that it was owing to their continued opposition in the Parliament that the Government couldn't bring a strong anti-corruption legislation,” Singh said.
It may be mentioned that Singh has been representing Assam in the Upper House since 1991. Former Assam Chief Minister late Hiteswar Saikia offered him a Rajya Sabha seat from Assam after he became the Union Finance Minister. Saikia also made him a tenant in his house located at Sarumotoria locality in Guwahati.