PM Modi echoes Indira, says political rivals have become irrelevant

He asks the people of Uttar Pradesh to rise above caste considerations to vote for BJP

It was billed as his first public rally after 50-days of “pain” of the note ban exercise. But, Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t announce any new “gains” beyond the schemes he unveiled in his New Year’s eve address to the nation, and even these were mentioned cursorily at the end of his speech at Lucknow’s Ramabai Ambedkar Park on Monday afternoon.

Addressing a huge crowd, the PM said the “black money” deposited in banks will be used for the welfare of the poor, but unlike his earlier speeches since November 8 in the state, particularly in Agra on November 20, he didn’t share any details of the money that has returned to the banks.
 

He asked the people of Uttar Pradesh to rise above caste considerations to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming assembly elections. The Elections Commission is set to announce poll dates for UP and four other states by Wednesday. 

In his speech, Modi didn’t refer to any of the BJP’s rival parties by name but said his opponents have become “politically irrelevant”. The PM blamed the current UP government for not transferring to the people, particularly farmers, the money sent for them by his government. He said the Centre has sent Rs 2.5 lakh crore to UP in the last two and a half years, but nothing has reached on the ground.

He said BJP’s political rivals were busy trying to protect their black money and cannot bring development to the state or rid it of lawlessness. The PM said the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party, which do not see eye to eye on any issue, have in one voice criticised note ban decision and called for “Modi hatao (remove Modi)”. “Wah kahate hain Modi hatao, main kahata hoon kaladhan hatao, bhrashtachar hatao (they say remove Modi, I say end black money, end corruption),” the PM said, a statement reminiscent of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and her younger son Sanjay’s 1971 election campaign, when the Congress slogan was “Garibi Hatao (remove poverty)”. “Wah kahate hain Indira hatao, hum kahate hain garibi hatao (our opponents call for Indira’s removal, I want poverty to be removed),” the Congress leaders would say.