150 riots in UP in a year, none in Gujarat in 10 years: Modi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate on Sunday said that Uttar Pradesh had witnessed more than 150 riots in a year whereas there had been no riots in Gujarat for the past ten years, and that in such a case Samajwadi Party Chief had had no right to compare himself to Modi.

"There have been 150 riots in Uttar Pradesh in the past one year and none in Gujarat in the past ten years. How dare they compare themselves with us," said Modi.

"Netaji (Yadav), is not bothered about development, but is only interested in votebank politics. Uttar Pradesh is ten times bigger than Gujarat, but only ten percent of the villages get electricity," he said, at a rally in Allahabad.

"Today Netaji has accepted defeat; he accepted that he can't compete with the numbers that gather for our rallies," he added.

He further said that the ministers in UP were busy talking about secularism rather than focusing on development of the state.

"Please go to the streets of Uttar Pradesh, and look at the unemployment. But the ministers are busy talking about secularism," said Modi.

"Poverty, education, and agricultural development have taken a back seat. They are deviating from the main issues in the name of secularism. The Samajwadi Party looks at you only as voters not as humans," he said.

"Today I'm happy that Netaji was forced to talk about development in his speech - this is his second defeat. There have been more than 20,000 cases of atrocities against women in one year in Uttar Pradesh, and Netaji is asking us to explain our actions," Modi said.

"I appeal to the people of Lucknow, don't let anyone destroy your culture. If you have to change the fortunes of India, it must begin in Lucknow," he added.