‘Hardcore corruption convention’: PM Modi takes a jibe at Opposition meet in Bengaluru

On Opposition

“Today, people of the country have already decided to bring our government back in 2024. Even then, people who are responsible for the poor plight of India have set up their own shops,” PM Modi said.

Reciting a poem in Awadhi, Modi said, “They (the Opposition) are singing some other song, but the reality is something else. A label of something else has been put up but the product is something else. This is the truth of their shop. There is a guarantee of two products at their shop. One, they sell the poison of casteism. Two, they do limitless corruption… Their product is – a guaranteed scam of 20 lakh crore rupees.”

The PM’s remarks come as 26 Opposition parties are gathered in Bengaluru to put up a united front against the BJP and chart a roadmap for the 2024 general elections. The Congress, AAP, TMC, NCP, and JD(U) are among those in attendance at the two-day conclave.

“These days, these people are gathered in Bengaluru. At one time, there was a song which was very popular: ‘Ek chehre par kai chehre laga lete hain log’ (‘On a single face, people put many faces’). When these people appear in front of the camera in a single frame, the first thought that comes in the minds of the country’s citizens on watching the scene is “corruption of many lakhs of crores.””

“The people of the country are saying, this (the Opposition meet in Bengaluru) is a Hardcore Corruption Convention… Here, if someone is on bail in a case of a scam worth crores, they are viewed with a lot of respect. If the entire family is on bail, then they are honoured even more,” Modi added.

“People are saying that this gathering is to promote corruption. The opposition parties have given a clean chit to the DMK despite corruption cases in Tamil Nadu. The Left and the Congress are also mum on panchayat poll violence in West Bengal despite attacks on their cadre,” he further remarked.

On development of Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Modi claimed that tourist inflows to Andaman and Nicobar Islands have doubled since 2014 and will increase multiple times in the coming years due to the development of infrastructure in the archipelago. “We brought submarine optical cable fibre to the islands and built a medical college in Port Blair. Our government allotted Rs 48,000 crore for the development of the archipelago in the last nine years. This is double of what was spent by the previous government,” he said.

“The tricolour was unfurled in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (in 1943) even before it was hoisted at Red Fort after India got Independence. But there were still signs of slavery. We removed those by renaming several islands to honour our freedom struggle,” the PM added.