Modi says change, not revenge, is his motive
BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi with party candidate Smriti Irani flashes victory sign during an election rally in Amethi (Photo: PTI)
Amethi: Breaking an unwritten code, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi held a rally at the Gandhi family pocketborough of Amethi on Mon-day, to wrap up the campaign for the eighth phase of elections scheduled for May 7.
The campaigning by Mr Modi in Mr Gandhi’s constituency was significant as no top leader usually campaigns in the constituency of top rivals.
“I have not come here for revenge. I have come here for bringing about a change in this constituency which has been neglected by the Gandhi family despite representing it for 40 years. You just invoke family relations with the people here, but do nothing for its development,” Mr Modi said in his nearly 50-minute attack on the Congress and its top leaders.
He said he had not come to Amethi to “trouble Rahul Gandhi. He is already a troubled soul.” He urged the Amethi to “snap the relationship between the family and the constituency” as people have been “cheated.”
Mr Modi said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi had “committed sin and for 40 years cheated three generations whose lives have been destroyed.” He assured Amethi that he had come “to turn your dreams as mine, to convert your pain into mine.”
Taking a swipe at Ms Priyanka Gandhi, Mr Modi said: “One of their (Congress) leaders even asked who is Smriti Irani? In democracy the royals do not have the right to ask such questions. This is arrogance. When arrogance grows, people tend to lose sense and ask such questions.”
Modi cites history to hit out at Sonia, Rahul
BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Mr Narendra Modi cited the instance of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, then a Congress general secretary, publicly “abusing” and “humiliating” the then AP chief minister T. Anjaiah at the Begumpet airport to highlight arrogance in the Gandhi family.
He then raked up the unceremonious removal of Sitaram Kesri as the Congress President in 1998 as “Madam Sonia Gandhi” was angry against him and wanted to take over the reins of the party.
Mr Modi also mentioned the treatment meted out by Mrs Gandhi to former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, saying “when he passed away, he was treated like Bahadur Shah Zafar and denied even a small piece of land for his cremation in Delhi.”
While listing the examples of “anger” of Congress leaders, he referred to an incident last year when Mr Rahul Gandhu publicly termed as “nonsense” a decision of the Union Cabinet on an Ordinance and said it should be “torn”.
The BJP leader said that by this act, Rahul had publicly “humiliated” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh besides the Union Cabinet.“This is called anger,” Mr Modi said.
He said he had been at the receiving end of Congress’ anger. Taking a dig, he said “four days are still left, take out your anger on me as much you can.”
He also took a swipe at Mrs Gandhi, saying he “understands the worry of the mother. For last 10 years, she has been trying to see that her son settles down. But when it looks like her effort is being wasted, she is feeling worried.”
On her barb that he had already started thinking he is Prime Minister, the BJP leader had another swipe. “Madam Soniaji, aap ke muh mein ghee shakkar (may your words come true).” Targeting Sonia and Rahul, he said they were feeling unsettled, wondering how a ‘tea-vendor’ could challenge a “ruler”.
Alleging lack of development in Amethi, Mr Modi said the people of this constituency had given their “love” to the Gandhi family for 40 years but they have been “cheated”. He specifically highlighted the lack of toilets in girl schools in Amethi to buttress his point.
“When I decided to send my younger sister Smriti Irani to Uttar Pradesh I had not thought of sending her to Amethi, but to a backward constituency. Amethi happens to be the most backward. Now, I have decided to change Amethi completely in 60 months.
People from other universities will come for case studies,” he said, adding that in 2019, he will revisit the constituency to enlist the developments that would take place.
( Source : dc correspondent with agency inputs )
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