Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress had joined hands to save themselves from the BJP wave in the Assembly polls. He attacked the SP rule for encouraging mafias and goondaraj and blamed the State government for lack of growth in the world famous lock industry of Aligarh.
After his acronym ‘SCAM’ for the SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati on Saturday, Mr. Modi coined another at his rally on Sunday — VIKAS which, he said, stood for vidyut (electricity), kanoon (law and order) and sadak (roads).
Lock industry ruined
Addressing a huge rally at the Numaish ground in Aligarh, Mr. Modi said, “Here in front of me I can see a saffron sea. When a storm comes then every one looks for a safe shelter. Similarly in the storm of people’s support for BJP , Chief Minister here has joined hands with anyone he found. But the fact is that won’t save him from the storm.”
Mr. Modi accused the SP government of ruining the lock industry of Aligarh and said, “The present government of the State has nothing to do with development. The Aligarh locks used to be world famous but now the State government has made sure that the manufacturing units were shut down and the Aligarh locks were used to lock them. The lock industry is no longer in great situation.”
“The manufacturing units were shut down because the State government in Lucknow could not provide them with electricity. People at tea stalls and hotels talk how electricity came on specefic days of a week. But times have changed. We are working all day and night to ensure that electricity reaches every home. We are working for U.P.’s VIKAS,” Mr. Modi said.
Accusing the entire Opposition of ganging-up against him because of the Central government’s moves against corruption, Mr. Modi said, “ These days some people are issuing fatwa against me because I have started tightening screws. Through demonetisation when I asked for an account of the crimes they have committed for the last 70 years. These people have nothing to do with development. They came together only to ensure that Modi doesn’t get a majority in Raja Sabha and he is unable to make laws to curb and expose their corruption.”
Recruitment scam
He raised the issue of allegations of corruption and discrimination in favour of youths belonging to the Yadav community in recruitment by the Akhilesh Yadav government and promised elimination of all kinds of corruption from the recruitment of government jobs in the State.
Widow’s pension
Expressing shock at the reports of “corrupt people withdrawing money out of a widow’s pension” from banks, Mr. Modi said, “the corrupt are flourishing under the present U.P. government. To stop this, we have from the Centre linked pensions to Aadhaar cards and bank accounts. ₹40,000 crore of the treasury that these rats would have silently eaten, is now being saved.”
Addressing the gathering many of whom were farmers, Mr. Modi said “The Akhilesh government buys only three per cent of grains from farmers. But we gave ₹22,000 crore to sugarcane farmers. Give us an opportunity, we will change the situation completely”.
Touting “shocking” crime figures to underline his point of the goondaraj in the State being patronised by the SP government, Mr. Modi said, “There are 24 rapes in Uttar Pradesh daily.”
