PM Modi wash out Congress in Bikaner
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a public meeting at Bikaner in Rajasthan on Saturday, attacked not just the Congress leadership and the Ashok Gehlot government in the state but was also unsparing in singling out at party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Lashing out at the Congress government in Rajasthan, which goes to polls in October-November, he accused the party of not at all being bothered about the problems being faced by the people of the state.
Modi said Rajasthan, which should have been at the top on the Jal Jeewan Mission list, is in the list of the slowest performing states. “There are more than 130 districts in the country where tapped water has reached every household. There is not a single district of Rajasthan among these 130 districts. The fault lies with the Congress government in Rajasthan,” he said.
He accused the Congress government of doing immense damage to Rajasthan in the last four years. The Congress leaders know this very well, he said, noting that the defeat of the party in the forthcoming assembly election is so certain that the state government has turned in the “bye-bye mode”.
“I am told that some ministers and MLAs have started vacating the official bungalows and shifting to their private houses. Only Congress leaders can be so confident about their defeat,” he added.
The prime minister enlisted a series of allegations against the Congress government in the state stating that it was suffering from infighting and corruption was taking place on a massive scale in transfer and posting of officials.
He alleged that the government in the state is unstable, that there are accusations of nepotism and the CM is busy in securing his son’s future. He said major leaks of question papers of examinations have taken place 17 times in the last four years and added that the state needs a stable double engine government.
The prime minister said Rajasthan is “number one” in the country in both crime rates and crimes against women. He also alleged that the state government is indulging in appeasement politics.
He also attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on four points, though without naming him.
Farmers
On Saturday itself, Rahul was seen with farmers at Sonepat in Haryana, driving a tractor and sowing paddy in the fields. He has been accusing the Modi government of being anti-farmers.
Returning the volley, Modi said the farmers of Rajasthan have been the biggest victims to the lies and deception of the Congress’s politics.
“Did the Congress promise farmers’ loan-waiver in the last election? Did their leader promise loan-waiver within 10 days (of coming to power)? Was the loan of farmers waived? From 10 days to 10 months and now four years – has the loan been waived?” he said with resounding “no” from the audience to each of his questions.
The PM said the farmers of Rajasthan produce bajra in huge quantities. The Centre has promoted coarse grains as “Shree Ann”. The central government has the responsibility to make them available throughout the world.
Modi drew a comparison between Rajasthan and Haryana, where Rahul was on a visit earlier in the day. He said bajra was sold at Rs 2,350 per quintal in the neighbouring Haryana. Whereas the farmers of Rajasthan were forced to sell the same bajra for Rs 1,300 per quintal.
He said the central government had Narmada river water sent to Rajasthan for the farmers. But the Congress government used all means to stop it, he alleged.
Modi said, “Hating the farmers is the Congress’s character and reality.”
Mohabbat ki dukaan
Rahul had coined the slogan “Nafrat ke bazar mein mohabbat ki dukaan” (Shops of love in market of hate) during his foot-march Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumar to Kashmir from September 2022 to January this year. He has been repeating it occasionally.
The Congress leader has on several occasions accused the BJP government of spreading hate among different communities.
The prime minister retorted to Rahul’s slogan. He said a lamp burns brighter before it extinguishes. The Congress is also doing the same due to the fear of losing. It has started misleading the people of Rajasthan, he said.
PM Modi
said, “But the people of the state will have to remember that the Congress means only one thing – it is loot ki dukaan, jhooth ka bazaar (shop of loot and market of lies),” he said.
He said the big promises being made these days have nothing else except intentions of loot and treasure of lies.
Rahul’s comments in US, UK
The prime minister did not spare Rahul over his comments made during his recent trips to the UK and the US where he spoke about the atmosphere in India. He reportedly also sought the intervention of foreign countries.
In a direct attack on the Congress leader, the PM said, : The Congress is such a party that it makes the country hollow by indulging in corruption when in power. When they are out of power, they defame the country by abusing it. They are so much pained by India’s progress that their leader goes abroad and abuse India.”
Surgical strikes
Several opposition leaders, including Rahul, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, had demanded proofs of the surgical strikes and air strikes of the Indian armed forces against the terrorist camps in Pakistan in 2016 and 2019.
In response to it, Modi said whenever the country’s armed forces have displayed valour, the Congress leader said “all kinds of things to humuliate them”.
The PM said, “The Congress demanded proofs when the armed forces said they had destroyed the bases of the terrorists in Pakistan and conducted surgical strikes. The Congress said nothing happened when the Air Force claimed they conducted air strikes in Pakistan. The Congress has had issues with the armed forces and their personnel. That is why the Congress remains annoyed with the armed forces personnel from Rajasthan.”
