Modi takes on Mulayam on rape remarks, riots

He said the SP chief's heart is 'very soft' for rapists

Taking on Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in his home district for his controversial remarks on rape and handling of Muzaffarnagar riots, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, on Friday alleged the netaji misrably failed to take a tough stand against rapists and to help riot victims.

Alleging that at a recent income tax raid at a meat-exporting company, a big hawala racket came to the fore, Modi claimed the racket had involvement of four union ministers and a leader close of 10 Janpath.

“Netaji (Mulayam) has a problem... He is unable to take an appropriate stand..He goes soft when a tough stand was required... Netaji failed miserably in helping the kin of victims of Muzaffarnagar riots", Modi told a rally here.

“Balatkariyon ke liye netaji ka man ekdum mulayam hai”, (For rapists, netaji's heart is very soft", he charged and said it was the right time to rid the state of "misrule" of SP and the Centre of Congress.

Yadav had recently triggered a controversy when he said "boys will be boys, they make mistakes" while commenting on the death sentence of three men convicted of gang-raping two women in Mumbai last year.

Taking potshots at the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party with taking names, Modi charged the two parties did not have right priorities.

"While some (BSP) are busy in building elephant parks the other (SP) is busy with lion safari. Sadly, they have no concern for the people of the state", he alleged.

Mentioning that Gujarat had given lions to UP, Modi said he would have felt happy to give cows of Gir in place of lions.

He alleged sugarcane growers in UP were not getting their dues and poor people had to carrying guns for safety. Due to law and order problem in UP, people, who are starving also had to carry guns, he added.

Claiming that he understands poverty, Modi said as a tea-seller he felt it and attacked Congress and charged that for them "poverty’ and the homes of the poor were a "source of tourism" and an attempt at attention-grabbing.

He claimed the turnout of voters in ongoing Lok Sabha elections was to "wipe out" the Congress for its "misrule" and the BJP would come upto the expectation of the people.