PM attacks Opp again: Embracing tukde-tukde gang, women unsafe in states they rule

The Opposition, protesting over a video of two women being sexually assaulted during the ethnic clashes in Manipur where the BJP heads the ruling coalition, has been demanding that the Prime Minister make a statement in Parliament on the Manipur situation.

Addressing a rally in Sikar, Modi said there was “only one slogan this time” in the poll-bound state: “Behen, betiyon par atyachar, nahin sahega Rajasthan (Rajasthan will not tolerate atrocities on sisters and daughters).”

He also said that a “threat looms over our festivals… no one knows when stones will be pelted, bullets fired, or a curfew imposed”.

Later, in Rajkot in Gujarat, the Prime Minister, addressing a rally after inaugurating the new greenfield Rajkot International Airport, cited a report and said a “neo-middle class” had emerged after his government  lifted 13.5 crore people out of poverty in the last 5 years.

He targeted the Opposition: “Now that so much work is being done in the country, the country is marching forward, it is obvious a few will not be happy. Those who always kept the people of the country longing, those who had nothing to do with the necessities and aspirations of the people, are today very irritated to see the dreams of people of the country being fulfilled.”

In his Sikar speech, Modi said: “What is happening with daughters of this land fills one with rage. From small girls to teachers, they are not safe here. And instead of taking action, Congress leaders accuse the victims of telling lies… Rajasthan is a land of the brave and the courageous. They don’t plead, these are people who roar… all across there is only one roar, every Rajasthani has only one resolve: ‘Behen, betiyon par atyachar, nahin sahega Rajasthan’.”

Highlighting crimes against Dalits, debt-ridden farmers, law and order breakdown, exam paper leaks and corruption in the state, he mentioned the “red diary”, allegedly containing details of “misdeeds” of the government of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

“The Congress means loot ki dukaan, jhoot ka bazaar (a shop of loot in a market of lies). And the latest product of this loot ki dukaan is the ‘red diary’,” he said, adding that the backlash will reduce the Congress to zero in the next elections. He also took potshots at the divide in the Congress unit in the state.

On the Opposition’s INDIA alliance, Modi said the Congress is “the biggest directionless party”, and called the bloc name a “trick” used by companies that get a bad name.

“The Congress and its jamaat of supporters are imitating such fraud companies. They have changed their name from UPA to INDIA so that the people don’t remember the misdeeds of the UPA… so that they can hide their sin of kneeling before terrorism, betrayal of debt-ridden farmers, treachery with the poor… They once gave the slogan Indira is India, India is Indira, and the people uprooted them. In their pride, they have committed the same sin. They are saying UPA is INDIA, INDIA is UPA. The people will do the same to them again,” he said.

Modi said India was also in the name of “the enemies of the country”, and that East India Company and Students’ Islamic Movement of India also used it “while seeking to hurt the nation”.

“Those who embrace the tukde-tukde gang, divide Bharat on the basis of language, and form relations with other nations on the basis of their (domestic) vote bank, for them, their vote bank is most important for them, not the interest of the country,” he said.

In Rajkot, he again took a swipe at the Opposition and underlined the efforts of his government.

“We came (to power) on the promise of good governance and today, we are showing it being fulfilled. We have worked constantly to improve the lives of the poor, Dalits, backward, tribals and everyone else.”

“Thanks to the efforts of our government, poverty in the country is declining rapidly. The latest report which has been published says that in the five years of our government, 13.5 crore people came out of poverty. This means that a neo-middle class is coming into existence as people come out of poverty. The middle class and the neo-middle class are there in the priorities of our government,” Modi said.