Nawada (Bihar): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the opposition INDIA, asserting that the alliance has not been able to pick its PM candidate and there is a lot of infighting over the same.
Speaking at a public rally in Nawada, Bihar, his second in the state in 72 hours, Prime Minister Modi said he enquired about why the leaders of the INDIA bloc were not campaigning. "I was curious as to why they have gone cold. I was told that there is a massive row in the top leadership of the INDIA bloc in the last fortnight. I was told that one of their leaders is adamant that till the time his name is not announced as the INDIA bloc's PM candidate, he will not attend even a single election rally. This is the state they are in. They are not able to decide their leader and are fighting within themselves," PM Modi said.
He further lambasted the alliance, saying it "doesn't offer a vision or reliability". "In Delhi, they stand together but in their states, the same leaders abuse each other. Here in Bihar, the opposition alliance nominates one candidate and someone other says he too has been nominated," he said, asserting that the alliance was a bunch of people who had come together in compulsion (Yeh Majboori me saath aaye hue loag hain).
"Their compulsion is that they all vie for power. INDIA bloc is a place for the corrupt," he said. In an apparent reference to controversial remarks of Karnataka MP D K Suresh, the PM said, "You can understand the Congress' mindset from the statement of one of its very senior leaders who openly called for making south India a separate nation."
Further attacking Congress on its recently announced election manifesto, PM Modi said it bore the imprint of Muslim League. "The manifesto that the Congress has released bears the imprint of the Muslim League. It has not released a poll manifesto but a declaration of appeasement (tushtikaran patra)," alleged Modi.
The Prime Minister also came down heavily on AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, without mentioning him by name, who recently objected to raising the issue of abrogation of Article 370, by BJP leaders, during poll campaigns in states like Rajasthan.
"The post of the national president of the Congress is not a small thing. And the leader thinks Article 370 has nothing to do with Rajasthan. Is Jammu and Kashmir not an integral part of the country? His thinking betrays the mindset of tukde-tukde gang," alleged Modi.
He pointed out that security personnel from all over the country, including Rajasthan and Bihar, have laid down their lives fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, and "their bodies have reached their native places wrapped in tricolour".
"The INDIA bloc talks a lot about the Constitution. Their leaders should tell the people why they could not implement the Samvidhan of Baba Saheb Ambedkar fully in Jammu and Kashmir. Why did it take a Modi to do so?" asked the PM.
He said the alliance was upset with "Modi's guarantee" and further claimed that his government achieved in 10 years what could not be done in 60 years after Independence.
"I am here to eradicate poverty from the country. I cannot forget the situation of the country before 2014. Most of the countrymen were compelled to live in kutcha houses or were homeless. There was no gas connection available for the poor. Middlemen used to benefit from the ration provided to the poor...I have survived poverty. This son of a poor is 'sevak' of poor," the PM said, adding, "What we have achieved in 10 years could not be done in 60 years after Independence."
Modi, who was in the Bihar district to campaign for BJP candidate Vivek Thakur, said, "I wonder what hostility the Congress has towards popular sentiments. Its leaders did not turn up at pran pratishtha even though the temple at Ayodhya was constructed with donations made by the common people, not with government funds."
"When some of the Congress leaders came out in favour of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, they were slapped with expulsions," said the PM, in a veiled reference to Acharya Pramod Krishnam, who was sacked by the party after he criticised it for skipping the event.
Modi also lauded Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president, and Sushil Kumar Modi, who is battling with cancer and has excused himself from poll-related activities, for their efforts in pulling Bihar out of the 'jungle raj', a term often used to denote the lawlessness that prevailed when Bihar was ruled by the RJD-Congress combine.
"In those days, our mothers and sisters were fearful of venturing out of homes," alleged Modi, taking forward the declamation of Kumar who spoke before him, that "people did not go out of their homes after dusk" in Bihar until the change of guard in 2005.
The PM was also visibly pleased when the Bihar CM predicted a 400-plus tally for the NDA. The PM said, "All surveys show that we are heading for a massive victory. Some may wonder why I am still working so hard. I am not one who would rest on his laurels. I was born into a poor family and will not rest until I wipe out poverty from the country. The first 10 years of my government have been a trailer. Our growth engine is on the runway. It must now take off."
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