‘Modi, Yogi will turn around Purvanchal in next 5 years’: PM in UP rally blitz

His statement came days after Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal’s claim that Modi would not be the PM for long even if the BJP wins, and that the days of Adityanath as UP CM were numbered. BJP leaders have rubbished Kejriwal’s remarks, insisting Modi will “be PM even in 2029”.

Modi, who also addressed rallies in the Lalganj Lok Sabha seat in Azamgarh district, and Pratapgarh and Bhadohi, also praised the Adityanath government for its crackdown on criminal elements and said, “UP mein BJP ne zameen mafia ki kamar tod di hai (The BJP has broken the backs of the land mafia in UP).”

Accusing the Opposition of doing vote bank politics and “Hindu-Musalman, Hindu-Musalman” for the past 70 years, Modi said the “shehzade” of the Samajwadi Party and Congress (implying Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi) had even “ridiculed” the Ram Temple for this.

He also repeated his claim that the INDIA bloc wanted to take away the reservations available to SC/STs and OBCs, saying they had done so in Karnataka, “where all the Muslims were made OBCs through an order”.

“They will replicate the same model across the country… I will not allow them to do such politics until I am alive,” Modi said.

Purvanchal and “Purvi Bharat (Eastern India)” would be “the growth engine of Viksit Bharat”, the PM said, claiming that it was becoming a hub of health and education.

He told voters that they had an opportunity to elect a PM “who runs a strong government” and who would not “let the world dominate him” but rather “introduce India’s achievements to the world”.

Saying beneficiaries had already got 50 lakh pucca houses in UP, of them one lakh in Jaunpur district alone, Modi said: “After one lakh houses in a single district, will every mother give blessing to Modi or not? Then they (the Opposition) shouts ‘EVM-EVM’… This is not related to EVMs. This is the blessing of every woman who has got a pucca house.”

Modi also accused the “shehzade” of the SP and Congress of “insulting” the people of UP when they go to the South. “They have abuses hurled at Sanatan dharma. Their allies DMK, Left in Kerala and the people of Karnataka and Telangana Congress, when they hurl abuses at UP’s people, SP and Congress leaders close their ears with cotton buds,” he said.

At Lalganj, Modi accused the Opposition of spreading lies over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), and “making Hindus and Muslims fight by doing vote bank politics”, and “trying to trigger riots, including in UP”. A day after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs physically handed over the first set of citizenship certificates under
the CAA, the PM said: “Kya is desh mein ab koi maai ka laal paida hua hai jo CAA ko khatam kar sake (Is there anyone in this country who dare end the CAA)?… This is Modi’s guarantee.”

He said that those who had got citizenship Wednesday were backward Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, and all had been “victimised” in their native country on the basis of religion. They had been living in India as refugees for a long time, but the Congress “never looked after them”, Modi said. “The people of the
country now know that by making Hindus and Muslims fight, you wore the garb of secularism to hide your sins. Modi has exposed your truth.”

In a veiled attack on Akhilesh – who is a former MP from Azamgarh, that has a high proportion of Muslims and Yadavs – the PM said the SP government in the state “honoured rioters, released terrorists, gave political cover to sleeper cells”. “Terrorism flourished across the country due to that approach… They have the same attitude even
today,” he said, in a reference to the number of terror accused arrested from Azamgarh.

Adityanath, who also spoke at the rally, said: “Earlier, whenever a terrorist incident took place in the country and the world, its links were invariably established with Azamgarh.” Those who defamed Azamgarh stand exposed today, he said.

Equating the SP and Congress, Modi said they both sold “lies, appeasement, nepotism and corruption” from their “dukaan (shop)”.

Apart from accusing the Congress of “insulting” Ram Temple, Modi said the party had made fun of his visit to Dwarka and his underground “darshan”. “Leaders of the SP in UP and the RJD in Bihar call themselves Yaduvanshi. What kind of Yaduvanshi are you that the person you are sitting with hurls abuses on Lord Krishna?” the PM said.

At Bhadohi, a seat given by the SP to the Trinamool Congress as part of an arrangement, Modi said the SP and Congress were trying out “the TMC’s style of politics”. According to him, TMC politics meant “appeasement, calling Ram Mandir impure, banning Ram Navmi celebration, shelter to Bangladeshi intruders, vote jihad, murder of
Hindus and atrocities on Dalits and tribals and women… The Samajwadi Party wants to take UP in this direction.”

At the Pratapgarh rally, the PM said that if the Congress had “disappeared” from Amethi in 2019, it would go from Rae Bareli this time.

In a jibe at Rahul’s promise of sending money “khata khat, khata khat (quickly)” into the account of women if the Congress came to power, he said: “The Modi government will definitely be formed after June 4 but the INDI alliance will disintegrate ‘khata khat, khata khat’… These people will run away ‘khata khat, khata khat’. Only we will remain.”