Picking up from where he had finished at his first election rally in Haryana’s Kurukshetra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi again attacked the Congress at his Sonipat rally in the Jat heartland on Wednesday, accusing it of opposing reservation and snatching away the rights of the deprived and the oppressed, adding that the party was also known for “instability” and “infighting”.
Mr. Modi said the Congress had snatched away the rights of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes whenever it was in power, and it was in the “Congress’s DNA to oppose reservation and hate reservation”.
Alluding to the Gandhi family, though without naming anyone, Mr. Modi said Prime Ministers from the Congress family had always opposed reservation and even the fourth generation of the family was talking about doing away with it. He said that Babasaheb Ambedkar had ensured reservation for the SCs, else they too would have had to wait for the Congress to be defeated to get their due like the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, had ensured the true participation of the deprived and the oppressed, said Mr. Modi, adding that his party had made Nayab Saini, who belongs to the OBC and is “the son of a farmer”, the Chief Minister of Haryana.
Mr. Modi also raked up the issue of violence against families from the Scheduled Castes during the Congress rule in Haryana saying that atrocities were committed against the community and its women during the rule of Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
In his 50-minute speech, Mr. Modi accused the Congress of fuelling separation and terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and trying to bring back special status under Article 370.
Referring to the “infighting” in the State Congress, the Prime Minister said wherever the Congress was in power, be it in Karnataka, Telengana or in Rajasthan earlier, its top leaders, were busy fighting among themselves, sparing little thought for the people’s problems and issues. “Wherever the Congress sets foot, one thing is for sure: corruption, corruption and corruption,” quipped Mr. Modi, adding that in less than two years the Karnataka Chief Minister was facing charges of a land scam.
Mr. Modi said the first-time voters in Haryana, aged 18-19, did not even know how the State was “plundered during the Congress rule”, adding that only “the lotus can save the people of the State from the middlemen and the sons-in-law”, an obvious reference to the land deal involving Robert Vadra.
He said the Congress was “incorrigible” and if it returned to power, even by mistake, the development in the State would come to a halt. “To vote for Congress is to put Haryana’s development and stability on stake,” said Mr. Modi.
Reaching out to the farmers, Mr. Modi said his government, in less than hundred days of its third term, had taken several decisions to benefit farmers, including imposing tax on the import of sunflower oil. He said the Congress was making big announcements in Haryana, but not implementing the same where it was in power.
Published - September 25, 2024 04:27 pm IST
