Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he was a victim of one-sided oppression, with the Congress hurling abuses at him all the time under the “veil of love”.
“A Congress leader called me gandi nali ka keeda (an insect from a drain), there was another who addressed me as a mad dog,” Mr. Modi said at a BJP rally in Kurukshetra in Haryana. “Their leaders called me Raavan, snake, maut ka saudagar (trader of death), Hitler, Qadhaffi, Dawood Ibrahim ... and what not,” he added.
“These leaders didn’t even spare my mother and asked who my father is, and all these abuses were hurled at me after I became the Prime Minister. It was nothing but one-sided oppression,” Mr. Modi said.
The Prime Minister said the abuses were being hurled at him as he had put a check on the “corrupt activities” of the Congress and its leaders. “I talk of their dynastic politics due to which under the veil of love, they abuse me ... this is the way they show their love,” Mr. Modi said.
Referring to the 2007 blasts on the Samjhauta Express near Panipat, Mr. Modi said the Congress-led government had targeted and harassed innocent people in the name of “Hindu terror”.
Separately, at a rally in Fatehabad, Mr. Modi made a veiled attack against former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, saying he presumed himself to be a shahenshah ’ (royalty) who no one could touch, but who had now turned nervous after being dragged to court. He indirectly hit out at Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. “Congress did corruption on the land of farmers. Not only in Haryana, even in Delhi evidence has come to the fore,” he said. “But your chowkidar acted in the matter and approached the court and today these leaders are visiting the courts regularly... This chowkidar has taken the person who looted farmers to court.”
‘Silent on defence’
Mr. Modi took a dig at the Congress and its allies on national security, saying the party had such a history that it could not boast about anything when it came to security and defence. “No nation can become a world power without strengthening its defence policy. The BJP government made a strong defence policy whereas the Congress, which was in power for seven decades, kept silent on defence policy for the country,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that due to the strong willpower shown by India in its fight against terrorism, the UN had declared Masood Azhar a ‘global terrorist’, forcing Pakistan to act against him.
Referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Mr. Modi said, “The NDA government established an SIT to investigate 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases and the result is that today the guilty are behind bars in an anti-Sikh riots case.”
On the Kartarpur corridor, Mr. Modi asserted that the religious shrine of the Sikhs would have been in Indian territory had past Congress governments made a sincere effort. “It is difficult to rectify the blunder of the Congress but it is our effort that travelling to Kartarpur Sahib becomes easy,” he said.
