Choose between shahzada and country, Modi urges people in Delhi

Gujarat CM today attacked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for disrespecting the prime minister

In his maiden rally in the national capital as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country had a choice to make between Constitutional democracy and the wishes of a prince, a reference to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.

“The country has to decide whether it wants to be run according to the Constitution or according to the wishes of a shahzada,” Modi said.

In his speech, over 60 minutes long and listened to by 100,000 people — a large part of them young men — Modi blamed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for mishandling the economy, increased corruption and lack of governance.

The stage set next to Modi, for foreign dignitaries, remained largely unoccupied, as delegates from most countries decided to skip the rally. BJP had sent out invitations to delegations from various countries, including the US. A majority of the party’s senior leaders, except former party president Nitin Gadkari, also gave the rally a miss.

The presence of more women differentiated this public meeting of Modi from an earlier one in Rewari. But here, too, they formed only a tiny minority. The crowd, which waited for Modi for more than two hours, gave the organisers a tough time — by climbing poles, pulling down barricades and jumping queues. The party’s volunteers were seen pleading with the crowd at many places. Twice in his speech, Modi had to take pauses, as the crowd, chanting his name, outshouted him. He then requested the crowd to stop, as the “TV-walle had recorded the cheers, which were being broadcast all across the country”.

At his combative best, Modi mocked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for lack of credibility within his own party, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for having “no work besides cutting ribbons”, and the UPA government for its “Gandhi-bhakti”, which he said meant collecting “tonnes of Rs 1,000 notes”. Modi also said the government, though led by a sardar, was not asardar (effective).

He, however, soon switched from bashing to advocating the PM as he referred to Rahul Gandhi’s “complete nonsense” remark on the government’s ordinance that sought to protect convicted politicians. He said Gandhi’s statement was not just disrespect of the PM, but also of the Indian democracy.

Further, talking about Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s reference to Manmohan Singh as a “village woman”, Modi said the allusion was emanating from the fact that even Gandhi was undermining Singh’s authority as prime minister. He was reacting to media reports that Sharif had called Singh a “dehati aurat” (village woman) at a breakfast meeting with journalists.

“From where does Sharif get so much strength? The strength comes because the prime minister’s own party has no respect for him. If his party’s leader calls him “nonsense”, how can the world respect him?”

Modi’s speech also had repeated references to UPA allies. He blamed them for corruption in the country and threw the same question at them, too. “When the PM was coming from G-20, he had declared the shahzada was his new boss. But, the allies should answer whether they want to be run according to the Constitution or by the wishes of the shahzada. They will have to decide.”

In his speech, addressed to the youth, Modi asked whether they felt there future was safe in the hands of the UPA government. The audience shouted, no. And, Modi asked them to pledge to vote UPA out.  Citing numbers from the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule, he said employment generation had decelerated under the UPA government. According to him, during the six years NDA was at the helm, 60 million people had been given employment. In contrast, between 2007 and 2013, the UPA government had provided only 2.7 million jobs.

Blaming UPA for a policy paralysis, Modi said power plants with capacity totalling 30,000 Mw, carrying investments of Rs 75,000 crore, were being wasted, as the government had become ‘paralysed’ by corruption fears.

BACK TO HIS COMBATIVE SELF

ON RAHUL GANDHI
“Today, the country needs to decide whether it wants to be run according to the Constitution or by the wishes of a shahzada”

ON SHEILA DIKSHIT
“She is the happiest chief minister in our country.... she has no work, except cutting ribbons”

ON THE UPA GOVT
“The UPA government is headed by a sardar but it is not asardar (effective)”

ON PAKISTAN PM SHARIF
“We can disagree with our PM on policy issues but... who are you (Sharif) to address my country’s PM as a village woman? There cannot be a bigger insult for India and its PM”