Training his guns on Mulayam Singh in his home district Etawah on Friday, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi scorned the Samajwadi Party supremo for being (Mulayam) soft on 'rapists' but harsh on riot survivors living in relief camps in Muzaffarnagar.
"Our Netaji has a problem. (Instances) where he is required to be soft, he is harsh and tough. And where he is supposed to be tough, he turns out to be soft. If anyone rapes our daughters, we must be tough, but Netaji is soft on the rapists. There were quami riots (in Muzafarnagar) and children were forced to face hardships in relief camps. Netaji should have been soft on them. But he couldn't do it," Mr. Modi said.
Mr. Modi's word play was a direct reference to the controversy created by the SP chief, who recently remarked that "boys will be boys, they make mistakes," while questioning the death sentence to three men convicted of gang-raping two women in Mumbai last year. The SP has also receivd flak for mismanagement of relief camps in Muzaffarnagar post-riots.
Later addressing a rally in Rural Kanpur, the Gujarat Chief Minister alleged that as "disclosed by a television channel," a "big hawala racket" had come to the fore in a recent raid on a meat-exporting company by the IT department, and claimed that "four Union Ministers" were involved in it.
"Four union Ministers are linked with this company in hawala. Even a leader who is close to 10 Janpath (the official residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi) is involved," Mr. Modi said while challenging the UPA to come clean on the matter.
Mr. Modi also took at dig at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for considering poverty as an avenue for 'tourism,' a reference to Mr. Gandhi's visits to Dalit hutments in the past.
"Delhi ka Sehzada visits poor households just like tourists visit the Taj Mahal in Agra... (Gandhis) are born with silver spoons in the mouth, we have reached here after toiling and selling tea," Mr. Modi said trying to raise the poverty sentiment.
Predicting a drubbing for the Congress in the general elections, Mr. Modi said the party would not cross double digits (of seats) in even a single state and fail to open its account in many States.
Urging voters to give the BJP "300 seats" for a "strong government" to "change the destiny of the country," Mr. Modi said that judging by the polls conducted so far, it was clear that a new government would be formed at the Centre. He urged voters to uproot dynasty politics from Lucknow and Delhi.
