Congress tried every trick against me, says Narendra Modi on snooping row
New Delhi: Obliquely referring to the snooping scandal involving illegal surveillance of a woman, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi said Congress has earlier resorted to such 'tricks' during the Gujarat elections to malign him but without any success.
"They tried every trick to discredit me. But Gujarati people have defeated those attempts. Despite allegations that Congress made through Facebook and Twitter, people of Gujarat gave a befitting reply," the Gujarat CM said at an election rally in Delhi on Saturday.
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Storming the capital with a whirlwind campaign, Modi attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, saying they have ruined the country with their 'bookish knowledge'.
Addressing a series of election rallies here ahead of the December four Delhi Assembly polls, Modi said he does not question the knowledge or qualifications of Singh and Chidambaram but with their 'intelligence and bookish knowledge, the two leaders have destroyed the country'.
"They (Singh and Chidambaram) say we don't want to learn economics from Modi, but you should have at least learnt from Narsimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Then you would have understood how to run the country. Both were not considered as economists, but the two great leaders were aware of country's problems," Modi said.
Sparring between Modi and Chidambaram has been on for sometime.
Modi had alleged at a rally in Jodhpur on Friday that Chidambaram feels buying gold causes inflation. The Finance Minister responded by saying that BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate is giving his 'first lesson in economy' and rejected his contention.
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An undeterred Modi continued the onslaught against Chidambaram and Singh at his rallies in Delhi. Taking a dig at the top leadership of the Congress, Modi said, "Our PM is a big economist. We never questioned that. Finance Minister is also very educated. We never challenged that."
"A top ranking Minister in the central government, who considers himself to be all-intelligent, thinks he has got all the brains in the world and that the others are brainless... The same Minister said prices are rising because poor, who were earlier only eating dry breads, are now eating two vegetables. Tell me, are prices rising due to this?" he asked.
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Later, Modi took a jibe at Chidambaram on his Twitter handle, saying, "Economy is in trouble, youth want jobs. Devote more time to economics not petty politics. Chidambaramji, please focus on the job at hand!"
At his poll rallies in Shahdara, Sultanpuri and Chandni Chowk here, Modi said in its attempt to target him, it has become a habit for Congress to pose questions to Gujarat on every issue.
"Ye fashion ho gaya hai, Chunav Delhi aur Rajasthan mein hai, lekin jawab Gujarat ki sarkaar se maang rahe hain. (It's become fashionable, there are elections in Delhi and Rajasthan, but they want Modi to answer questions on Gujarat).
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Raking up the Commonwealth Games scam, he said, "CWG was an opportunity to enhance our brand. Forget stealing money, they lost an opportunity to project Delhi to the world."
Congress has lost the people's faith, he added. Referring to BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, he said, "We promise good governance and we are presenting an honourable person as our CM candidate."
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Attacking Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit over price rise he said, "A Congress Minister says that the government's job is not to sell vegetables. But see what Dikshit is doing now. Isn't she selling onions? I am surprised that despite the code of conduct, why did the Election Commission help her." He targeted her government for high electricity tariff and comparing the rates with Gujarat.
Attacking Congress on governance, Modi said after Independence Jawaharlal Nehru had promised that emphasis will be on 'good governance', but no importance was given to it.
"After independence, had there been a focus on good governance, then the nations which got independence after us would not have been considered as developed nations. The Congress does not believe in good governance."
Taking a dig at the Congress-led government he said, "In coming years, it will come out with different Acts... There will be an Act for breathing, right to drinking water Act, Act to walk on foot paths."
Hitting out at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Modi said if not for some media persons, no one would have known where all the 'shehzada' had been while on campaign for the Assembly elections in five poll-bound states.
"He (Rahul) says till the time we talk of poor in politics, he doesn't get maza (fun). Is the poor a subject for making fun? When we see the pain of poor, we lose sleep. He says poverty is a state of mind. How will he understand poverty when he was born with a golden spoon?" Modi said.
Modi alleged that there had been 40 riots in Rajasthan and that the 'shehzada' himself did not have any trust on the Congress government in the state.
"Those who do vote bank politics, they have this problem of why riots doesn't takes place in Modi's Gujarat. It takes place in Rajasthan and 100 and more riots in Uttar Pradesh because their politics is of divide and rule," he said.
Attacking Congress on the Telangana row, Modi said when Uttarakhand was created from Uttar Pradesh by the NDA government, both the states distributed sweets.
"Same thing happened in Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and even in Bihar and Jharkhand," he said. "But what happened in Andhra Pradesh? Congress' tried to play divisive politics and now Andhra Pradesh is crying and Telangana is too. There are curfews and shoot outs at both the places," he added.
While praising Vardhan for his pulse polio programme, he said the time had come to root out 'polio' (Congress) from Delhi, which has been in power for past 15 years but did nothing for the city Modi said the Congress government in Delhi was least bothered to create employment opportunities for youth and poor and also blamed it for rising crime in the city.
"Congress feels poor as burden and thinks they can't do anything, they want to keep them dependent in all aspect economically as well. They don't think that they could also contribute in nation's economy. All one has to do is develop their skills and they could be an asset," Modi said.
He also accused Congress of misleading people over the Delhi Metro, and said that it started during the Atal Behari Vajpayee's regime and "now they are taking all the credit for it, they should set their record right."
