PM listening, Modi to voters: What if your son doesn’t return alive?

‘‘Before you vote, think for a moment: you have a car, you have everything under the sun but what if your son does not return home alive in the evening?’’ Adding ‘‘ tak salamati nahin, koi pragati nahin.’’

Then, in an echo of the PM’s remarks on Saturday, he blamed the Congress states for not sending a ‘‘single policeman’’ when the riots broke out. ‘‘Aaj musalmano ke rakshan ki bate karne wale, unki voteki chinta karne wale, unhone ek bhi policewala nahi bheja,’’ he said.

Earlier, while addressing a rally in Surat, Vajpayee first touched on the theme of communalism. ‘‘Looking at elections in Gujarat,’’ the Prime Minister said, ‘‘reminds me of the churning in the sea. Both the Gods and the demons wanted to taste the nectar. But it was the poison that came out first. The demons ran, the Gods didn’t want the poison and it was up to Lord Shiva to take the poison. Vaise hi Gujarat mein sampradayikta ka vish peene ke liye BJP hi hai (Similarly, BJP is the only one to swallow the poison of communalism).’’ The crowd cheered chanting Jai Shri Ram and Vande Mataram.

Vajpayee said there were ‘‘some unfortunate incidents’’ limited to pockets of the state and accused the Congress of exaggerating it to paint a picture that the entire state was burning. ‘‘Under no circumstances should such incidents be repeated in future,’’ he said, adding ‘‘The BJP has provided clean governance in Gujarat during the last four and a half years.’’

Taking a dig at Sonia Gandhi who warned the BJP against criticising Indira Gandhi, he said he was stunned to hear words like khabardar and hoshiyar. ‘‘Woh bahu hain aur bahu ko bhi kabhi sas banna padega,’’ he said, amid a round of applause. ‘‘We praised Indira Gandhi for the good work and criticised her for her failures but she never took objections,’’ he said wondering what Sonia was getting angry about.

After lauding Gujarat for its good showing in literacy and low levels of infant mortality, he listed the achievements made by the Central government in the IT sector and in stabilising the economy.

Vajpayee had to end his speech abruptly at 10 p.m. to avoid violating the deadline set by the Election Commission. Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati spent more than 25 minutes hardselling the BSP and slamming Ram Vilas Paswan. There were few takers in the crowd and many noisily complained.

Modi’s short speech was received well in his constituency. Referring to a spate of marriages on December 12, he said ‘‘pahle matdan, phir kanya dan.’’ He even asked mothers to take a vow, ‘‘pahle matdan phir jalpan.’

With the PM by his side, Modi avoided Miya Musharraf and Godhra but told the audience that the Congress had issued a ‘‘fatwa’’ against the BJP. ‘‘Constitution is the only fatwa that matters,’’ he said.