STATE TIMES NEWS
Neemuch: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lashed out at the Congress for what he called practicing the policy of “divide and rule” to stay in power and creating new records in corruption, and accused the opposition party of standing with foreign elements who openly conspire against India.
He said for the country’s oldest political party, Lord Ram was an “imaginary” character.
“The Congress has always created problems for the country and has no solution for them. It governed the nation by adopting the policy of divide and rule,” Modi stated while addressing a rally in support of the BJP in Neemuch district of the Malwa-Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh, where assembly polls will be held on November 17.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, the BJP’s star campaigner pointed out that the Father of the Nation used to emphasised that governance should involve honesty and ethics, and envisaged Ram-Rajya (ideal rule) in the country.
“But the Congress has built a fort of corruption and on the other hand it has declared Lord Ram as an imaginary character,” he said. The Grand Old Party has always created new records in corruption while in power at the Centre or in states,” Modi alleged.
The PM asserted that India’s stature is rising in the comity of nations, but the Congress is not comfortable with this global ascendancy.
“This (global ascendancy) is happening because of you who formed the BJP government which takes tough and big decisions. This is what the Congress has not been able to digest for the last 10 years, Modi said.
The Prime Minister said the Congress, which he said abuses him day and night, is wondering how the country’s profile is changing on the international stage.
“This (India’s rising power in the world) is what is bothering the Congress. Therefore, the Congress wants to spread instability and anarchy in the country. For this, the Congress has made secret agreements. The Congress now seems to be standing with foreigners who openly conspire against India. The people of Madhya Pradesh must be wary of the Congress,” he remarked.
Modi alleged that in its greed for power, the Congress is working to “betray the soil of the country”.
“Due to tactics of the Congress, we saw a period of terror and anarchy in the country. Anarchy got encouragement. The spirit of nation-building that existed at the time of independence was crushed by the Congress due to its devotion to one family,” he said.
The Congress, wherever it ruled, created a new record in corruption, he alleged.
“Due to this mentality of the Congress, it got wiped out from many states one after the other. Its traces are disappearing. The Congress has been yearning for a majority in Madhya Pradesh for two decades,” the BJP’s star campaigner maintained.
Modi claimed the Congress has divisive traits.
“And where there is division, vision is not possible,” he said and added that in contrast the BJP is working with spirit of “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” (One India, Great India).
The PM alleged the Congress only empowered sons and daughters of certain families, while “the BJP is working for the welfare of all daughters”.
Modi maintained the Grand Old Party has no solutions to the country’s problems.
“Because of the Congress, the country’s problems have become more serious, especially the loot of the poor. One of its Prime Ministers once admitted that out of Re 1 sent from the Centre, only 15 paisa reached the beneficiary,” said the BJP’s star campaigner.
“But who was looting this 85 paise? It was panja (hand),” he remarked, apparently referring to the Congress poll symbol ‘hand.’
Modi was apparently making a reference to then-PM Rajiv Gandhi’s remark made in the 1980s that only 15 paise of every Re 1 released by the Centre reached the end beneficiary.
However, the BJP has found a solution to plug leakages in welfare schemes by creating a trinity of ‘Mobile, Aadhaar and bank accounts’ (Jan Dhan), he said.
The Centre has transferred Rs 2.60 lakh crore under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries, bypassing middlemen, stated Modi. During the Congress regime, only 6,000 houses were sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), while the BJP’s ‘double-engine’ government (saffron party in power at the Centre and in a state) approved construction of 10 lakh homes in Madhya Pradesh, he said.