Opposition parties are against both heritage and development, says Modi

Prime Minister lays foundation stone for Ganga Expressway

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally after laying the foundation stone of 594-km-long Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district. Videgrab: Twitter/@narendramodi

Carrying forward his dual theme of virasat (heritage) and vikas (development), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh of undermining both.

Days after he inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor in Varanasi in a grand ceremony high on religious symbolism, Mr. Modi once again projected his government as the custodian of the Hindu religious heritage of the country.

The Opposition parties had a problem with

virasat because they were more worried about their “vote bank”, the Prime Minister said, in a veiled reference to the charge of Muslim appeasement that the BJP often makes against other parties.

The Opposition parties had a problem with

vikas because the poor and ordinary citizens of the country were not depending on them any more, Mr. Modi said in Shahjahanpur, where he laid the foundation stone of the Ganga Expressway.

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Mr. Modi said that these parties were against the development of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi, the under-construction Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the cleaning of the Ganga. The parties had even raised questions against India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine as well as the Army’s action against terror, he said.

Unlike previous governments, when only some regions of Uttar Pradesh got proper electricity supply, under the BJP government, every district was provided more power than before, he said.

“There is no bhed-bhav (discrimination) in U.P. Everyone is getting their due,” said the Prime Minister.

Targeting the previous government in the State, Mr. Modi said that earlier criminals with kattas (country-made pistols) would come out once the sun went down; women were unsafe, land grabs and riots were common and people were forced to migrate from their villages.

Chief Minister Adityanath had toiled to bring the situation under control, said Mr. Modi.

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The 594-km-long, six-lane Ganga Expressway is to be built at a cost of over ₹36,200 crore. Starting near Bijauli village in Meerut, the expressway will go upto Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj. It will pass through Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj.

Upon the completion of the project, it will become the longest expressway of Uttar Pradesh, connecting the western and eastern regions of the State, said officials.