Coining the slogan ‘Abki Baar, NDA Sarkaar 400 Paar (NDA to cross 400-seat mark this time)‘, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the Congress at a public rally in Haryana’s Rewari on February 16 saying that “the party was passing through its worst phase in history”.
He was speaking at an event to lay the foundation stones for a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rewari’s Majra Balkhi village and for a metro project in Gurugram, besides a few railway projects. The people have resolved that the Bharatiya Janata Party, which abrogated Article 370, should be anointed with “370 seats” in the Lok Sabha election, said Mr. Modi. “While BJP will get 370 seats, the NDA will cross the 400-mark,” he said.
Congress’ track record
Attacking the Congress, Mr. Modi said that the party had a track record of keeping the interests of one family above the interests of the country. On one hand was the “bad governance” of the Congress and on the other, the “good governance” of the BJP, Mr. Modi said, claiming that the Congress had a track record of being responsible for the biggest scams in Indian history, promoting terrorism and separatism, and weakening the Army and the soldiers.
Without naming anyone, Mr. Modi said that a Congress leader who could not even handle a start-up was dreaming of running the country. “The old leaders are leaving the party and those who wanted to come along with it have also left. The party don’t even have its own workers. They can’t even handle their governments whereever they are in power,” he said.
The Congress thought it was its birthright to stay in power, Mr. Modi said, claiming that it had hatched conspiracies against him since he had become the Prime Minister because he came from a poor family. He added that he, however, had the blessings of the people, who were equivalent to God, and the mothers and the sisters were acting as his shield.
Modi’s guarantees
The Prime Minister said that people were talking about his guarantees, both within and outside the country, as his guarantees were for those who had nothing to offer as security. He noted that he had given the guarantee for ‘One Rank One Pension’ at a rally in Rewari before the 2014 general election, and had then fulfilled it.
Mr. Modi said the people of the country had wanted the Ram Temple to be built at Ayodhya and the entire country was now visiting the temple for the “darshan” of Ram Lala. “Even the people of Congress, who used to call Lord Ram an imaginary figure and never wanted Ram temple to be built, have now started chanting ‘Jai Siya Ram’,” quipped Mr. Modi.
He said that he had given a guarantee of the abrogation of Article 370, and “the legislation had now got lost in the pages of history despite the attempts of the Congress to not let it happen”.
