A day after the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections ended with a voter turnout lower than that in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to step out of their homes and “vote for anyone”. He even asked the Opposition parties to encourage their supporters to vote. This, he said, was important to secure the future of the country. Addressing a rally in Maharahtra’s Nanded which will vote in the second phase on April 26, Modi claimed that voters had overwhelmingly voted in favour of the ruling NDA in the first phase. But he clearly had the turnout in mind. The vote, he said, is “the greatest strength of a democracy (loktantra ki sabse badi takat). Vote for anyone, but do vote. It is true that it is very hot, there are problems, there are weddings. There are some areas where farmers are at work. But look at the soldiers guarding the border in any weather… a similar emotion should be in the minds of the voters. They will not be doing anyone a favour by casting their vote. With their vote, they will secure the future of the country”. He even called upon workers of Opposition parties to enthuse their voters. “If not today, tomorrow or the day after, you (Opposition) will also get a chance… That’s why I want to tell the workers of those (parties) whose defeat is certain… enthuse voters to vote. The next 25 years will prove India’s greatness for which the voting percentage should increase,” he said. In Nanded, a city of great importance to Sikhs since this is where Sri Hazur Sahib is located, Modi also raised the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to attack the Congress for opposing the law, linking it to the 1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi by Sikh bodyguards. “Our government brought the CAA for the victims of Partition. If there was no CAA, what would have happened to our Sikh brothers and sisters? What crime have those who have come from Afghanistan committed? Yet, the Congress is opposing the CAA. It seems that the Congress is still seeking revenge from the Sikhs for 1984,” he said. Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, “The Congress shehzada is facing trouble in Wayanad. Shehzada and his coterie are waiting for voting in Wayanad on April 26 and after that they will announce a safe seat for him. They will have to field him from some other place.” “Even their alliance partners are abusing each other. The Kerala Chief Minister has slammed him in a language even I have never used. The manner in which he has run away from Amethi, he will quit Wayanad as well,” he said. “The INDI Alliance members who have come forward to save themselves have been rejected by voters as they are still not able to finalise a leader. The voter is asking them about their leader but they cannot answer.” Without taking names, he said some INDIA bloc leaders who used to be members of Lok Sabha for years have entered Parliament via Rajya Sabha because they no longer have confidence to contest elections “Even before the elections, the Congress has accepted defeat. It is evident from the fact that those who used to contest and win elections have chosen the Rajya Sabha route. INDI Alliance is not getting candidates and it is not campaigning. On 25 per cent of the seats, the INDI Alliance is fighting each other, raising allegations against each other and threatening to put each other in jail. After June 4, they will tear each other’s clothes, pull out each other’s hair. Tell me, will any sensible citizen waste a vote on them?” he said. Referring to the Congress-AAP alliance in Delhi, he said, “For the first time after Independence, this family of Congress will not vote for a Congress candidate. There is no Congress candidate where this family lives.” Slamming the Opposition for boycotting the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, he said, “Curing every wound inflicted by the Congress is Modi ki Guarantee… Article 370, triple talaq, growing economy… A grand temple of Ram Lalla is being built in Ayodhya but INDI Alliance is abusing Sanatan, validating the boycott of the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple, describing puja at the Ram temple as pakhand (hypocrisy) and insulting our aastha (faith). These people cannot be pardoned.” “The 10 years (of NDA government) was a trailer. A majority of our time in this period went into sorting out the problems created by the Congress. We still have a duty to Marathwada and Maharashtra,” he said. He was speaking at a rally to mobilise support for BJP candidate Pratap Chikhalikar Patil in Nanded and Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Baburao Kohlikar in Hingoli. Modi said victories of these two candidates will strengthen him. “I want each of you (in the crowd) to do one thing for me. Go to every home and extend greetings to them on my behalf,” he said.
