PM Modi reasserts his govt is not pro-corporate, it's pro-poor

Refrains from speaking about Land Acquisition Bill against which Congress organised a rally here

Accused of being pro-corporate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today projected his government as pro-poor and pro-farmers and lashed out at his critics for their "congenital habit" of running down BJP.

While refraining from speaking about the land acquisition bill against which Congress organised a rally here, he made a special mention about his government's initiatives to benefit the farmers, including the "bold" decision to pay compensation to those who suffered in the recent rains by bringing down the criteria of damage from 50% to 33%.

The only oblique reference he made to the controversial bill was when he attacked "perverted minds", including a section of media, for wrongly projecting his speech in Bengaluru during the party's National Council meeting earlier this month.

Modi asked party MPs and other workers to highlight the contrast between the work of previous governments and the NDA dispensation in terms of their pro-poor measures as he asserted that welfare of the poor is close to his heart.

He targeted former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in a veiled manner, for having said that out of Re one, only 15 paise reaches the people, saying "you do not have to only do analysis but treat the disease".

Modi, who was addressing the party MPs on the eve of the second half of Parliament's Budget session, highlighted the schemes initiated by his 10-month-old government and said these were all intended to benefit the poor.

"Hold your head high, be confident and tell the people what we are doing for them and they will laud you... All decisions I am taking are for the welfare of the poor," he said at a meeting of BJP MPs.

Citing examples like drop in inflation and falling cement prices, he said these were the result of his government's schemes which had benefitted the poor.

"Some people have this 'janmjaat (congenital)' habit of running down BJP. They have a right to criticise us but then they have no right to call themselves neutral... I have always been speaking about the poor, working for them.

"Some people have decided not to hear anything good, not to say anything good and not to see anything good. We should not waste our time on them but focus on those who want to listen. ... You should become more active and tell people what all we are doing. Don't think about what media is saying," he said.