Over the next five years, the Bharatiya Janata Party is going to change the fate and the image of Purvanchal, or eastern Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, addressing four rallies in the region.
He accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress for allying with south Indian forces who hurl insults at the people of U.P. “In these polls, India has two model. On one side, it’s Modi, the BJP and the NDA whose path is santushtikaran (satisfaction). On the other side, it is the SP, Congress and the ghamandiya (arrogant) alliance; their path is tushtikaran (appeasement). The playbook of the SP and the Congress is dangerous. They seek votes here and while in south India, when their partners use absurd and abusive language for the people of U.P. and Sanatana Dharma, they remain silent,” the Prime Minister alleged, speaking in Janupur.
Mr. Modi accused the Opposition parties of spreading false information about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). “The people of the country now know that by doing vote bank politics and making Hindus and Muslims fight, they let the nation burn in a communal fire for decades,” he said.
Growth engine
The PM added that the Opposition INDIA bloc would find it difficult to win even a single seat in U.P., India’s largest and most politically significant State. “I promise to build a developed India, and the growth engine of developed India will be Purvanchal, eastern India. The region is becoming a powerful centre of health and education. In the next five years, Modi-Yogi is going to change both the image and the fate of Purvanchal,” Mr. Modi said, referring to U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
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The four rallies that the PM addressed on Thursday are considered a major Purvanchal push by the BJP. Out of the four parliamentary seats in the region, the ruling party lost three in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but Mr. Modi claimed that he had the blessing of the voters. “The Congress and the INDIA alliance, who are shouting ‘EVM-EVM’, should understand why Modi gets so much blessings from the mothers and sisters of the entire country; the SP and Congress have only one shop in which they are busy selling a triple dose of appeasement,” he said.
Mr. Modi emphasised that vote bank politics will no longer work in any part of India, including in Jammu and Kashmir. “The enthusiasm and zeal with which people voted in Srinagar after Modi’s guarantee on [Article] 370 was fulfilled makes it clear that vote bank politics will no longer work in Jammu and Kashmir. The work of granting citizenship under the CAA law has started from yesterday and no one can stop it now, this is Modi’s guarantee,” he asserted.
‘Disrespect towards India’s faith’
The PM also attacked the Congress and other Opposition parties for declining an invitation to attend the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, noting that it shows their disrespect towards the faith of India. “These parties [Congress and SP] rejected the invitation for the consecration ceremony. After 500 years, the dream of a grand Ram Temple is fulfilled in Ayodhya. When the people of India built such a grand temple and forgave all their [Congress] mistakes by inviting them for the consecration ceremony, these people insulted Lord Ram by rejecting the invitation. The uncle of the SP ‘shezada’ (Akhilesh Yadav) is calling the Ram Mandir ‘bekar Mandir’. These people regularly played with Hindu-Muslim religious sentiments for the past 70 years,” alleged the PM.
Pitching the 2024 Lok Sabha election as an opportunity to elect a strong leader who can make the world aware of India’s strength. “This poll is an opportunity to choose the Prime Minister of the country. Such a Prime Minister who runs a strong government that cannot be dominated by the world but that makes the world aware of India’s strength,” he said.
