Prime Minister Narendra Modi being greeted by BJP leaders and partymen during a campaign meeting in Bhawanipatna, Odisha on Friday.
He also slams Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government for “not cooperating“with the Centre to bring about speedy development in the State.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress, saying it remembers the poor only before elections while in reality it snatches poor’s entitlements.
Addressing his second public meeting in the past five days in the KBK region (Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput), which has been synonymous with poverty, Mr. Modi lashed out at both the Congress, and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in Odisha on poverty reduction.
He was speaking at Bhawanipatna, district headquarters town of Kalahandi.
These types of political parties (the Congress and the BJD) hatched conspiracies to ensure that the poor remained poor. They cannot erase the blemish of such conspiracies against the poor from their foreheads. They had treated the poor as a vote bank who have associated with them elections after elections. They had betrayed the poor after every election, he said.
“It was the same betrayal, for which people like Dana Majhi could not get ambulance and many people were forced to migrate from the region to other States for work. It was the betrayal for which Odisha could not move ahead on path of development as it should have progressed,” he said.
'Congress's failures'
“The Congress has an identity associated with Kalahandi. The identity is the statement made by Congress accepting its failure. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had once said referring to Kalahandi that if one rupee is sent form Delhi, only 15 paise reaches the poor. At that time, the Congress was the only party which was in power from panchayats to Parliament. Yet they had to make that statement. That means some hand used to reduce one rupee into 15 paise by polishing it. The 85 paise used to get absorbed in the hand,” observed Mr. Modi.
“What Congress has done after accepting its failure? Should not then Prime Minister have found a solution when he had known about the pilferage? It was their responsibility to ensure all 100 paise reaches people. These are people who identify the disease, but don’t prescribe the remedy. Only Modi possesses the ability to treat the disease,” he said.
“Decades after when Congress ran a remote-controlled government, it accepted that there was improvement in the Rajiv Gandhi-era situation when 15 paise out of one rupee used to reach and in our time 16 paise reaches. In so many years, the Congress government was able to give a relief of only one paise,” Mr. Modi said.
'Concern for poor only during polls'
“Do you have any more trust on those who snatch people’s money? For 70 years, rights of people have been looted. Should they be pardoned? When election comes they chant garibi..garibi. This is the truth about the Congress’s hand. It has been their policy and principles,” charged Mr. Modi.
“But I am indebted to you that you have provided me the opportunity to all these conditions. I am able to prove on poverty alleviation which Congress could not do in seventy years. But I can tell it with pride if central government sends 100 paise from Delhi, it ensures all 100 paise reach pockets of poor,” he said.
The BJP government was able identify and eliminate 8 crore fake beneficiaries who were robbing all entitlements given to people. The eight crore fake beneficiaries meant it was more than the total population of Odisha. They were taking advantage of these schemes, he alleged.
PTI adds:
Mr. Modi slammed the Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government for “not cooperating“with the Centre to bring about speedy development in the State. “The government in Odisha did not cooperate with us. Despite its indifference, we did our best in launching development projects in the State,” he said.
This chowkidaar (watchman) had taken advantage of the Centre’s schemes to ensure the welfare of Odiyas, he insisted.
If the BJP had formed a government in Odisha after the 2014 election, the State would have witnessed “speedy development in all sectors”, he claimed.
Calling upon the people to vote for the ''double-engine'' government of the BJP at the Centre and the State, Mr. Modi said Odisha should repeat the history created by Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and Tripura in 2018.
Without taking a single leave in the last five years, this “chowkidar has worked diligently” to bring about a transformation in the country, Mr. Modi said.
“The credit for the transformation goes to the people of the country, who voted the BJP to power. It is your vote and not Modi who brought positive changes in the country, lit up lives of poor, filled their lives with hopes,” he added.
Mr. Modi and his partymen have launched the Main Bhi Chowkidar (I too am a watchman) campaign to blunt the Opposition’s, especially the Congress’s, chowkidar chor hai (watchman is a thief) slogan.
Assembly elections in Odisha will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in four phases — April 11, 18, 23 and 29.
No comments:
Post a Comment