Modi mum on temple at first rally in UP

Accuses Congress of playing 'divisive' politics

Accusing the ‘troika’ of Congress and its allies Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of playing ‘divisive’ politics in the name of secularism, Narendra Modi on Saturday asked the people of Uttar Pradesh (UP) to throw them out of power and ‘bury’ vote bank politics forever.        

The Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate made no reference to the Ram temple issue in his first public meet in UP, where the party was hoping to win over half of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in its bid to come to power at the Centre in the 2014 general elections.        

"Government has only one religion. It is nation first, India first. It has only one religious scripture, the Constitution," Modi said.         

Raking up the issue of Congress attacking him on the issue of secularism, he said the ruling party had only "one mantra, one chant and one medicine" for winning elections, “that of vote bank.”        

“They chant the mantra of secularism to divide the people," he said, adding the BJP was committed to binding people together.         

Modi said the aim of his party was whether a person be a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh or Buddhist, he should all be "good".         

"We will have to bury vote bank politics forever. We have to tread the path of development-oriented politics," he said.         

Attacking the ruling SP and the main opposition BSP in the state, who provide outside support to Congress-led government at the Centre, Modi described those as a ‘troika’ that had ‘eclipsed’ the holy confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.         
"Uttar Pradesh wants to break free from this eclipse to restore its pristine glory," he said.          

Similarly, the people of Uttar Pradesh should take the lead in dislodging the troika from Delhi, he said, citing the call from this historic city for driving out the British.

"More than 5,000 innocent people were killed in the last year in UP. The government in UP still continues to play its games for vote bank politics," Modi said.

He alleged the Akhilesh Yadav government was making efforts to release those facing serious charges of terror activities.

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Narendra Modi addresses a public rally in Kanpur
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"They are playing with the nation's security. We will not allow them to destroy UP or the country for vote bank politics," Modi said.

He alleged it was in the "DNA, blood and thought process" of the Congress to play divisive politics and divide brothers.     

Attacking the Congress, SP and BSP, he said they had become ‘masters’ in making false promises, fooling the people and taking them for a ride.

Modi accused Congress allies of protecting and saving the government at the Centre "through the backdoor" to hide their own misdeeds and that those were equally responsible for the state of affairs.

Charging the Congress with only seeking account of his work and the development in Gujarat, Modi said the government at the Centre should explain its own accounts.

He slammed the prime minister on the coal allocation issue, saying a senior official had said if he was an accused, the PM be ‘accused No 1.’

"Had we ever heard such words before for a prime minister? They say the coal files have gone missing. In Delhi the whole government has gone missing. Due to your misdeeds, life has gone missing in India," he said.

Taking jibes at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on poverty, the BJP leader said one should look at the language he has used. "He says poverty is nothing. It is only a state of mind. Those born with a golden spoon- what do they know of poverty." Modi said while Gandhi had visited homes of the poor to understand poverty, he was born poor and feels the pain. He said the arrogance of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul prevents them from accepting their failure to control prices.