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Resuming his campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls after inaugurating the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for labelling GST as ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ and said those who looted the country could only think of dacoits.
“Those who have looted the country can only think of dacoits,” Modi said at his first rally of the day in Morbi. On Rahul’s Gabbar Singh Tax jibe, Modi dubbed his demand of keeping a uniform 18 per cent GST as ‘Grand Stupid Thought’.
Morbi, which falls in the drought-prone Saurashtra region, has had a long history of water crisis and the PM took upon the issue to woo the voters in the region. “The main issue in Kutch and Saurashtra when we came to power was water shortage. Lack of adequate water was affecting society. The BJP government changed this and got waters of the Narmada to these regions,” he said.
Modi accused the Congress of taking credit and political mileage over schemes like providing hand-pumps and said the BJP government brought the Narmada project for the benefit of the people. “The Congress’ development model was giving hand-pumps. For BJP it is the SAUNI scheme (the Narmada water project for Saurashtra region), where we will fill dams of Saurashtra through huge pipelines,” he said.
The PM’s rally in Morbi, meanwhile, coincided with a public meeting held by Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who continued his tirade against Modi. In Morbi’s Rangapar village, Hardik asked the voters to elect leaders who cared about farmers and not those who ferry labourers to public meetings of the PM. ”
“Elect leaders who raise hue and cry when farmers don’t get good price for groundnut and not ones who are ferrying labourers to public meetings of Modi. I won’t tell you who should you vote for. But don’t vote for the BJP,” the PAAS convenor said.
Wednesday will also see Rahul Gandhi holding two rallies in the state. He offered prayers at the Somnath Temple in the morning. PM Modi was quick to point out that Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress did not want a temple to be built there. “If there was no Sardar Patel, the temple in Somnath would never have been possible. Today some people are remembering Somanth. Have you forgotten your history? Your family members, our first PM was not happy with the idea of a temple being built there,” Modi charged.
At his rally in Prachi, Modi hit out at Congress’ hobnobbing with the OBC community and asked why the party did not give constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes. “Congress is seeking votes of the OBC communities but they should answer why they did not allow OBC Commission to get Constitutional Status for all these years. We brought in the move, it was passed by the Lok Sabha but stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where Congress has majority. We want to give our OBC communities their due,” Modi said.
The PM also castigated the Grand Old Party for sitting on the One Rank-One Pension scheme and said only when the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were approaching, they announced a meagre Rs 500 crore for it. “I want to ask the Congress. What is it that you have against our army? The demand for OROP was pending for 40 long years. When elections were approaching, they announced a meagre Rs. 500 crore for OROP when the real requirement was a lot higher,” the PM said.
