Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday that the Congress has only ensured that its leaders do not live in poverty. Mr. Fadnavis was speaking at an election rally held in Dahisar for BJP’s Mumbai North constituency candidate Gopal Shetty.
He said, “Rahul Gandhi, we gave a chance to your great grandfather, grandmother, father, and mother to remove poverty. Now you are saying you will remove poverty. Congress has only removed poverty of its own leaders.” Mr. Fadnavis, who addressed two public rallies in the city on Tuesday, made the comments in the presence of leaders such as BJP’s Vinod Tawde and RPI(A) president Ramdas Athawale.
Mr. Shetty, who is contesting against actor Urmila Matondkar of the Congress, said, “Celebrities should play dandiya, have juice, eat vada pav, and celebrate. Leave people’s service to us. God has created me for serving people.” He said no slums will be demolished till slum dwellers get 305 sq.ft. houses.
‘Will transform lives’
Mr. Fadnavis said, “[When asked where will the money for the NYAY scheme come from, Congress leader P.] Chidambaram said that they will divert money. [Prime Minister Narendra] Modiji takes action on black money and based on that you [Congress] announce this scheme? You never gave 72 paise to anyone. Modiji will transform the lives of citizens, every poor person will benefit in this country. The Congress’s assurances are also borrowed. They are like the golden goose. Nobody will get anything from it.”
He added, “They spend 50% of time [making speeches] slamming Modiji. I think they wake up scared in their sleep, sweating and chanting ‘Modi Modi.’ Their speeches are a source of entertainment. Like there are disclaimers before every TV serial. After some days, channels will show such disclaimers before Rahul Gandhi’s speech, saying it is fictitious, has nothing to do with reality, we are showing it only for entertainment.”
The Chief Minister went on to talk about the success of Central schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, and Swachh Bharat Abhiya. He congratulated Mr. Shetty for starting the Ujjwala scheme in slums.
Mr. Fadnavis said, “Rahul Gandhi said he would give 500 sq.ft. houses to the poor. To do this you will have to reclaim the entire coast in Mumbai. They are liars. They never gave a house to a single person. But we will give houses to slum dwellers. Those living on forest land will also get houses. Every poor person will get a house. When the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation declared the property tax waiver, the Congress asked what about waiving other taxes? Did the Congress ever give any waiver? Whatever waiver is remaining [Shiv Sena chief] Uddhavji and I will give.” The Congress recently pointed out that the property tax waiver announced by the State government only covered a small component of the property tax.
Mr. Fadnavis then listed the schemes being implemented by the government in Mumbai, including Metro lines, expansion of suburban rail network, and the coastal road project. He said the Metro work should have been completed 10 years ago by the previous government.
Slamming the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena [MNS], Mr. Fadnavis said, “In Mumbai, you are now getting political parties on hire. The Congress has rented the railway engine [MNS symbol], but it does not function. All its parts are missing and the engine thinks it can run on steam. The MNS thinks everything happens through contractors. They can’t understand the concept of subsidy. They are still stuck with percentages.”
On the Pulwama attack and Balakot strike, Mr. Fadnavis said, “This election is also about national pride. In the past, bomb blasts and firing would happen every day, but not in the last five years. In 2008 [after 26/11], what did Congress do? They just condemned Pakistan and complained to the UN. Is this a fight between two kids? The then Prime Minister didn’t have the courage to threaten Pakistan and say: ‘I will come and hit you’.”
Mr. Fadnavis said, “In 2016, the Uri attacks took place. Pakistan thought this was the old India, and we would only discuss and condemn it. But India wanted revenge. Modiji said this is no longer the old India. This India will not stay put. We carried out surgical strikes. Not a single soldier was injured.”
Mr. Fadnavis said after the U.S. and Israel, India has become the third country that retaliates if its soldiers are attacked. “Our Army always had this courage. The Army would ask for permission to retaliate. But the then PM would say, ‘Wait, we have to discuss’. But Modiji said: ‘No discussion. This India does not discuss’. Pakistan then attacked us in Pulwama. Modiji then gave full freedom to the armed forces. ‘Let’s teach them the value of our soldier’s lives’, he said. The Army then carried out the Balakot strike at 3.30 a.m. and destroyed terrorists. Only two entities did not accept this and demanded proof [for Balakot] — one was Pakistan and the other was Rahul Gandhi. Had you told us earlier, we would have tied one of your leaders to the rocket to go and see what our armed forces had done [in Balakot]. They question the Army’s valour,” the CM said.
He went on to criticise the Congress’s manifesto for promising to remove AFSPA from Jammu & Kashmir and scrap Section 124A. “If someone does not accept the Constitution or the Tricolour, you can use the sedition law [against them]. You can put Maoists and Naxalites behind bars. Some people in Delhi were put behind bars just because of the sedition law. If what they said is not illegal, what is? Will you tolerate this?” Mr. Fadnavis asked.
