Addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh's Raipur on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress, calling it a 'panja' (hand) standing in the way of the state's development. "A big 'panja' (hand) has stood like a wall in front of the development of Chhattisgarh. This is the 'panja' of Congress, which is snatching your rights from you. This 'panja' has decided that it will loot and ruin Chhattisgarh," he said at Vijay Sankalp Maharally in Raipur. Launching a scathing attack against the Congress party, he said, "Out of the 36 promises made by the Congress to Chhattisgarh, one was that liquor would be banned in the state. Five years have passed, but the truth is that the Congress has done a liquor scam worth thousands of crores in Chhattisgarh and its complete information is full in the newspapers." PM Modi was quoted as saying by the BJP in a roughly translated tweet in Hindi, "Chhattisgarh is the state in whose formation BJP has played a major role. Only BJP understands the people of Chhattisgarh, knows their needs. Today, laying of foundation stone and inauguration of projects worth more than Rs 7,000 crore have taken place here." Further, he said, "These people will follow me, threaten to dig my grave, hatch conspiracies against me. But they do not know, the one who gets scared cannot be Modi." Accusing the Congress party of corruption, he added, "Congress is now trying to hide the stain of its misgovernance and corruption with false guarantees. You need to be very cautious and careful with such false guarantees. It is the BJP which gives the real guarantee, whatever it promises, it fulfills it." छत्तीसगढ़ की माताओं, बहनों और बेटियों को आज यह समझने की जरूरत है कि कांग्रेस ने उनके साथ कितना बड़ा धोखा किया है। pic.twitter.com/IhjQguJWcK — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 7, 2023 Mentioning about his nine years of governance, he said, "In the last 9 years, the BJP government at the Center has given more than Rs 1 lakh crore to the paddy farmers of Chhattisgarh. This year also more than Rs 22 crore has been given to paddy farmers here. It is the BJP which understands the hard work of the farmers and is working for them, while the Congress is only cheating and lying to the farmers." आज भारत उन क्षेत्रों में अधिक तेजी से इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर विकसित कर रहा है, जो विकास की दौड़ में पीछे रह गए। इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर यानि… pic.twitter.com/DqAfyyiP6U — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 7, 2023 PM Modi, on his visit to Chhattisgarh on Friday, laid the foundation stones of multiple projects worth around Rs 7,000 crores. He also flagged off a new train from from Antagarh (Kanker district) to Raipur. PM Modi also kicked off the distribution of 75 lakh cards to beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. After inaugurating multiple projects, PM Modi said the projects will start a new journey of facilities and development in tribal-dominated areas. He was quoted as saying by PTI, "These new projects will open up ample employment opportunities for the people of the state and ease their lives. "In the last 9 years, the Centre sanctioned National Highway projects of 3,500 km length in Chhattisgarh, of which projects of 3,000 km length have been completed," he said. "We have been developing infrastructure in the areas which have been lagging in the race of development," PM Modi added. Another benefit of infrastructure which is seldom discussed is that it is related to injustice, he said. PM Modi dedicated four-laning of the 33-km-long Raipur-Kodebod section of the National Highway 30, the 53-km-long four-lane Bilaspur-Pathrapali stretch of NH-130. He also virtually laid the foundation stone for construction of three sections (Jhanki-Sargi (43 km), Sargi –Basanwahi (57 km) and Basanwahi-Marangpuri (25 km)) as a part of the six-lane Raipur-Visakhapatnam economic corridor NH-130 CD. In addition, he dedicated to the nation the doubling of the 103-km-long Raipur-Khariar Road Rail Line, built at a cost of Rs 750 crore, a 17-km-long new railway line connecting Keoti-Antagarh, and a bottling plant of the Indian Oil Corporation with a capacity of 60,000 metric ton per annum in Korba constructed at a cost of over Rs 130 crore. Centenary celebrations at Gita Press The Prime Minister will then proceed to UP's Gorakhpur for the centenary celebrations of the Gita Press. Besides taking part in the closing ceremony of the centenary celebrations of Gita Press in Gorakhpur, PM Modi will inaugurate multiple projects in Uttar Pradesh on Friday. माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी के छत्तीसगढ़ आगमन पर स्वागत के दौरान. pic.twitter.com/nz8swimemy — Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) July 7, 2023 At Gita Press, a landmark publishing house in Gorakhpur, PM Modi is scheduled to release a special edition of the Shiv Puran, which is considered to be one of the 18 major Puranas. Modi is also scheduled to flag off Vande Bharat trains at Gorakhpur railway station. Later in the day, he will reach Varanasi and lay the foundation stone for multiple projects at 5 pm. On their way to attend PM Mod's address, three killed, four injured in bus accident on Bilaspur highway Meanwhile, three persons were killed and four people were injured after a bus rammed into a truck on a national highway in Bilaspur on Friday morning. The victims from Ambikapur were on their way to PM Modi's speech in Raipur. Special edition of Shiv Puran Even though the Shiv Puran was published by Gita Press earlier, the special edition expected to be released by PM Modi includes more than 25 photographs of Lord Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh, and Kartikeya, all from the publisher’s own collection. A copy of the special edition was bestowed to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently. Notably, the publishing house in Gorakhpur established in 1923, was unanimously selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 by a jury headed by the prime minister recently. Sticking to its principle of not accepting any cash in the form of donation or prize money, Gita Press declined to accept the prize money of Rs 1 crore but rather agreed to accept the citation. In June last year also, Gita Press did not accept a donation given by then-President Ramnath Kovind. (With inputs from PTI, ANI)
