On April 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, highlighted that the Congress manifesto for Lok Sabha polls has an imprint of the Muslim League, contrasting his focus on national welfare with what he perceived as Congress’ appeasement policies. He also took a dig at the opposition parties dismissing their allegations of misuse of probe agencies against their leaders and said they may give any amount of threats but the “corrupt will have to go jail”.
“For me, my India is my family. I am striving to save my country and my family from loot. I say remove corruption, they say, save the corrupt. No matter how many threats they give to Modi, the corrupt will have to go to jail. This is Modi’s guarantee,” the prime minister said. “After independence, Congress thought that it had the license to loot the country but after coming to government in 2014, Modi has canceled the loot license of Congress and Modi was able to cancel the license because you gave Modi the license. Now their shop has been closed, will they abuse Modi or not? So who will protect me? These crores of my countrymen, my mothers and sisters, have become my raksha kavach today.”
He further took another hit at the Congress leader Charan Das Mahant who had made controversial remarks about him. “There is talk of hitting PM Modi on head…I am working to save the country from loot. They should know that Modi is a son of the poor who always walks with his head high,” PM Modi stated. An FIR has also been lodged with the Chhattisgarh Police following Mahant’s objectionable remarks against the Prime Minister.
Further PM Modi criticized Congress for rejecting the invitation to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ram Mandir, Ayodhya in January and taking punitive action against the congress leaders who called the party leadership’s decision wrong. “The royal family of Congress rejected the invitation of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir. Congress leaders, who called this step wrong, were expelled from the party… this shows that Congress can cross any limit for appeasement. The manifesto made by Congress also has the imprint of the Muslim League. Even today the Congress has nothing to do with the needs of the people of the country, it is the BJP government which is implementing every guarantee on the ground,” he said.
The prime minister also asserted that the country has witnessed a stable and strong government under BJP’s leadership. PM Modi emphasized the BJP’s track record of governance and commitment to the welfare of the poor. “The biggest priority of our government is the welfare of the poor. After independence, the Congress government ignored the needs of the poor for decades, the Congress never cared about the poor, did not even understand their problems,” he asserted. “During COVID, Modi government provided free vaccines and provided free ration to poor people and this scheme has also been extended for the next five years.”
In the 2019 polls, BJP won nine seats in Chhattisgarh, with polling for 11 Lok Sabha seats scheduled across three phases. Voting will take place on April 19, 26, and May 7, with results announced on June 4.
