Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at the Congress government in Chhattisgarh for allegedly siding with Maoists and boosting their morale and urged voters to choose between landmines and pipelines (development).
“When I came here during assembly elections, I had brought the statements of Congress leaders to your attention,” said Modi while addressing a massive election rally at Korba, adding “Congress was calling Naxals as revolutionaries. Today, incidents are happening in Chhattisgarh because of Congress is encouraging Naxals.”
Slamming the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh government for Naxal attack that killed BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi and four others in Dantewada district on April 9, prime minister said, “it is unfortunate that the attack took place in an area where presence of Naxals had reduced”.
He blamed the Congress for siding with Maoists and people who wanted to divide India. “Does the Congress ‘hand’ favour development or destruction?” asked the prime minister. He said the Congress is pushing the country towards violence and destruction, and added that the Congress’ manifesto is a testimony of that.
Modi said the state government was not letting PM Kisan Yojana’s benefit reach the farmers. “PM Kisan Yojana aims to ensure that Chhattisgarh’s 35 lakh farmer families get benefited from the scheme, but the state government has not taken steps to provide us with a proper list of farmers.” alleged Modi.
He once again criticised the Congress for proposing to abolish the sedition law and review the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.
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C’garh Govt boosting Naxals’ morale, alleges Modi
He said the Congress cannot understand the needs of the country as it is busy taking care of only one family.
Amid claims of "misusing" the armed forces for electoral gain, Modi said the strength of "one vote" had enabled the surgical strike and air strike in Pakistan.
He stated that India of today carries out surgical and air strikes across the border and shoots down satellite in space due to the strength of "one vote" of the people.
He also said Congress President Rahul Gandhi had labelled all Modis as thieves. “There is a namdaar who said recently that all Modis are thieves,” he said. “Those of you here who are named ‘Sahoo’, if you went to Gujarat, you would be called ‘Modi’. So tell me, are you all thieves? Should we believe that we are all thieves? Are you going to let this go without giving an apt reply to those who say things like this?”
Chhattisgarh has total 11 Lok Sabha seats and voting for three seats- Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund and Kanker, will be held in second phase on Thursday, April 18. The polling for seven seats in the state is scheduled on April 23 while voting for Bastar seat was held on April 11.
