Modi slams Rahul remarks: No power can harm our democracy

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi termed the Congress leader’s remarks “an insult to (12th-century social reformer) Basaveshwara, the people of Karnataka, India’s great traditions and its citizens” and said, “People of Karnataka should beware of such people.”

“The statue of Lord Basaveshwar is in London, but it is unfortunate that in the same London, questions were raised on India’s democracy. The roots of India’s democracy have been nurtured for centuries. No power in this world can harm India’s democratic traditions. Despite this, some are constantly putting Indian democracy on trial,” he said.

During a discussion at the Chatham House think tank in London on March 6, Rahul Gandhi had said the challenges confronting Indian democracy were India’s internal problem and “we will deal with our problem” but added that the problem would play out globally.

“Democracy in India is a global, public good. It impacts way further than our boundaries. If Indian democracy collapses, in my view, democracy on the planet suffers a very serious, possibly fatal blow… you must be aware that this problem is going to play out on a global scale… You must be aware of what is happening in India — the idea of a democratic model is being attacked and threatened,” he had said.

This is PM Modi’s sixth visit this year to Karnataka, where Assembly elections are due by May.

Earlier, speaking in Mandya, in the Old Mysuru region, where he inaugurated the 118-km-long Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway and laid the foundation stone for the highway’s Mysuru-Kushalnagar section, Modi stepped up his attack on the Congress and other Opposition parties, saying that while they were “busy digging Modi’s grave” while the government did development work.

“What is Congress and its partners doing when the government is doing development work? The Congress is dreaming of digging Modi’s grave. They are busy digging Modi’s grave, while Modi is busy constructing the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway. They are busy digging Modi’s grave. Modi is busy working for the welfare of the poor,” he said.

Asserting that the “double engine” government of the BJP at the Centre and the state is key to the fast-paced development in the state, Modi alleged that before 2014, the Congress government “looted thousands of crores of rupees meant for the poor”.

“The Congress never bothered about the pain and suffering of the poor. In 2014, when you (people) gave me the opportunity to serve you, it paved the way for the formation of a government for the poor in the country, the government which understood the pain and suffering of the poor,” Modi said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Pralhad Joshi, and actor-politician and Mandya Lok Sabha MP Sumalatha Ambareesh, who recently announced her support to the BJP, were among those present at the Mandya event.

Hitting out at past governments, Modi said that while under the BJP government, infrastructure development had kept pace with people’s requirements, “earlier, roads and railway projects were announced only based on political benefit”.

Modi inaugurated a string of projects on Sunday – besides the expressway in Mandya and IIT campus, he inaugurated the 1.5-km-long ‘world’s largest railway platform’ at Hubballi’s Sri Siddharoodha Swami railway station.

The Rs 8,480 crore expressway, which involved six laning of the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta-Mysuru section of NH-275, is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities by half – from the current three hours to one-and-a-half hours.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said once the Rs 17,000-crore (peripheral) Ring Road is completed by March next year, connectivity to Mysuru will be smoother. The new expressway will be connected to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu via the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Sulthan Bathery in Kerala, he said.