Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued to criticize the Congress on Tuesday in Chhattisgarh, alleging that the party resorted to ‘fuelling violence’ during its tenure at the Centre as a means to ‘hide its corruption’.
Addressing the public meeting in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund on Tuesday, PM Modi said Congress and development can’t go hand in hand, adding, “Wherever and whenever the Congress ruled, development was derailed. The Congress and development don’t go hand in hand. Violence and corruption peaked under their rule instead.”
Prime Minister Modi accused the Congress of allowing Naxalism to ‘flourished’ in Chhattisgarh during its rule, asserting that the Left-Wing terrorism has been substantially controlled under the current BJP government. He emphasized that the coalition government in the state is dedicated to eradicating the threat completely.
“The Congress couldn’t stop the violence in the Northeast. In Chhattisgarh, too, Naxalism flourished under Congress. Why? It was because of their corrupt ways. To hide its corruption, Congress fuelled violence. While people suffered, they filled its coffers,” PM Modi said.
“Under the BJP, corruption and Naxalism are under control. Naxalism is rapidly decreasing in Chhattisgarh. I guarantee that Naxalism will be rooted out altogether in Chhattisgarh,” he added.
Taking a dig at the Opposition bloc–INDIA–over apparent disunity, PM Modi added, “It seems that there is a conflict within the INDI alliance. Two days ago, there was a rally of the INDI alliance in Jharkhand, where heads were broken and clothes torn off in public. During their first rally, several leaders were seen holding each other’s hands on stage. However, in the last rally, you could all see that almost half of their leaders have left them.”
“In Delhi, where the royal family of the Congress lives (New Delhi constituency), the vote of their first family, itself, will not go to Congress this time (the grand old party has set aside the constituency for AAP as part of a seat-sharing deal). And, they are going around the country, asking you to vote for them. There is no Congress candidate this time where their first family resides,” PM Modi added.
He stated that the initial phase of polling witnessed predominantly one-sided voting in support of the BJP-led NDA, indicating that the electorate has firmly decided to once again place their electoral confidence in the BJP.
He also encouraged voters to cast their ballots in record numbers during the second phase of polling. Earlier in the day, he described the country’s ‘Nari Shakti’ (women power) as his ‘Raksha Kavach’ (protective shield), asserting that as long as the ‘mothers and sisters’ stand by him, the Opposition’s efforts to push its ‘agenda’ against him will not prevail.
PM Modi hit back at Congress leader Charan Das Mahant over his call to ‘break’ his head in a public rally at Janjgir-Champa in Chhattisgarh, saying “No one can inflict any harm on Modi.”
“Congress people (Mahant) are now saying they will break Modi’s head. As long as my mothers and sisters are with me, no one can bring any harm to Modi. The mothers and sisters are my ‘Raksha Kavach’ (protective shield). You can imagine the kind of leaders, who abuse the ‘Modi Samaj’ (a reference to Rahul Gandhi’s alleged imputation that everyone with the surname ‘Modi’ was a thief) and ‘Sahu Samaj’ (a community of traders),” the Prime Minister said.
“Now, they are threatening to break Modi’s head. A Congress leader even wished death to Modi. But his wish will never come true because where 140 crore people stand with you, ‘vaha maut ko bhi lambe samay ke liye intezar karna padhta hai’ (even death has to wait a long time),” he added.
Voting for the Lok Sabha in Chhattisgarh is divided into three phases. The first phase saw only one seat go to polls on April 19, while the remaining 10 Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on April 26 and May 7.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured victory in 9 out of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the Congress managed to win only 2 seats.