Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism, H.K. Patil has said that it is the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which has taken away the “ornaments” of Bharat Mata and selling them to private entities.
Addressing a press conference in Hubballi on Tuesday, Mr. Patil said that the real ornaments of Bharat Mata are its assets in the form of roads, airports, railway network, transmission lines, public sector companies, among others.
“What has the BJP done under Asset Monetization programme and the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP)? How many assets of the country has it given away to its friendly corporate like Adani, Ambani and other Gujarati companies? When the Congress comes to power, it will not be a mere spectator. It will take back the assets of the country,” he said.
Strongly condemning the tone and tenor of Mr. Modi’s campaign speech in which he accused the Congress of planning to snatch away even the mangalsutra of women, he wondered how could the Prime Minister indulge in such low-level talk and belt out blatant lies.
“It is the Congress which gave tali bhagya to women and it is the Congress which uplifted crores of people from below poverty line and raised their standard of living,” he said.
Mr. Patil also took exception to Mr. Modi’s remark on the Congress planning to redistribute wealth of the nation among Muslims and said that Mr. Modi misquoted the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement.
To a query on the spokesperson of Election Commission of India declining to react on such statement during poll campaigning, Mr. Patil said that it indicated how much control the ruling disposition has on the Election Commission.
“However, the whole country is watching what the Election Commission is doing. I urge the Election Commission to take action within 24 hours as it is accountable to the people of the nation,” he said.
Mr. Patil said that the Prime Minister stooping so low is an indication that he is perturbed by the shaking ground under his feet. The BJP has already lost its ground in North India and the election results will prove it, he said.
The Minister said that the Union government owes an apology to the people of the State for delaying the release of drought relief and for making Karnataka approach court for getting its due. “After Karnataka went to the Supreme Court seeking funds, the Union government says that it will process the request for funds for relief within a week. It is now proved that there is deliberate delay and the Union government owes an apology to the people for this act,” he said.
To a query on electoral bonds, Mr. Patil said that barring a few media houses, the rest have become weak in being the voice of the people and in opposing malpractices. But the people of the nation will teach a lesson to the acts of highhandedness and misrule.
MLA Prasad Abbayya, the former Minister A.M. Hindasgeri, Congress leaders F.H. Jakkappanar and Mahendra Singhi were present.
