Farmers suffered when Cong was in power: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday fired a fresh salvo at the Congress party, accusing them of not fulfilling promises made to farmers and ignoring them when the party was ruling the country or any state.

Interacting with BJP's booth-level workers from Tamil Nadu via video conferencing, the Prime Minister said: "Farmers asked for urea, but all they got was sticks. Farmers asked for higher minimum support prices (MSPs), but all they got was empty promises."

"Farmers asked for increased income, but all they got was insensitivity. We are not like Congress, which will only pay lip service to the farmers but ignore their well-being. Wherever Congress is in power, farmers suffer. They have suffered when the Congress was in power," he added.

The Prime Minister ridiculed the Congress, saying that they took national security and defence sector either as a "punching bag or funding source." "Sadly, for the Congress, national security and defence sector is either a punching bag or a funding source," he said.

"On the one hand, Congress leaders called Army chief names and mocked surgical strikes. On the other, they looted the defence sector, from the jeep scam back in 40s and 50s to Bofors in the 80s to the AgustaWestland scam and the submarine scam, among many others. All they see are ways to make money, even if it means the morale of our forces is diminished. Thankfully those days are gone," Prime Minister Modi told the BJP workers.

He said that when it comes to national security, the morale of the national security forces is important. "Among the first things that we did after coming to power, we have conveyed to the soldiers that we value them. The soldier, who is standing at the border, knows that the country is standing behind him," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister further said that the BJP believed that the country can only develop when north, south, east and west all develop together. Stressing that a healthy India is a pre-condition for a prosperous nation, Prime Minister Modi said: "If we want to ensure the growth of India, we need to ensure that healthcare is affordable.