Farmers won't have suffered if Sardar Patel was made first PM, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a whirlwind tour of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday intensified his attack on the Congress party, saying that if Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were the first prime minister of India, then the condition of farmers would have been better.

"If Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would have become the first PM of India, then the condition of farmers that has deteriorated in the Congress rule of 55-60 years would have been better today. The farmers of our country would have been strong," he said while addressing an election rally here.

"Sardar Patel was a true leader who empowered the farmers of this nation. I invite the people of Mandsaur to visit the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, which is double the height of Statue of Liberty in the United States," Prime Minister Modi added.

He further trained guns at the Congress party saying, "Indira Gandhi ji gave the slogan of 'Garibi Hatao' but were they able to eliminate poverty? They nationalized banks and said the poor would benefit from it, but what happened? So many people did not even have bank accounts."

"They left farmers helpless and in debt. We have worked hard to empower the farmers. In the last 15 years, under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh has seen rapid strides in the agriculture sector," he asserted.

Talking about the current condition of farmers in the state, Modi said that this generation of farmers is suffering due to the wrongdoings and wrong policies of the Congress. "Even our governments are facing bad names for those things. We put an end to black marketing of urea and lathi-charge on farmers for taking urea," he said.

Earlier, while addressing a rally in Chhatarpur, the Prime Minister slammed the Congress, saying that "one who does not have any agenda for elections, abuses someone else's mother."

"The party which ruled the country for so many years cannot compete with me and hence is abusing my mother. Such a low level of politics is unacceptable," the Prime Minister said. "They abused my mother; she does not even know the ABC of politics. Still, they dragging her in it," he added.

With the November 28 assembly poll date inching closer, campaign rallies, characterized by political mud-slinging in efforts to undermine one another, have peaked in the state, with the BJP and the Congress leaving nothing unturned to score over each other. The results for the state assembly elections will be declared on December 11.