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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had renamed itself INDIA to conceal its past misdeeds. Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in Rajasthan’s Sikar district, Modi urged people to force the “corrupt and dynasts” to “quit India” just as Mahatma Gandhi’s “Quit India” call had made the British leave.
Countering the Congress’ poll plank of social welfare “guarantees”, the PM said that it was his “guarantee” that Rajasthan’s destiny would change when (or if) it elects the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the December Assembly polls. On Wednesday, inaugurating the Bharat Mandapam in Delhi, the PM had said that it was “Modi’s guarantee” that India would be one of the top three economies in the world.
The PM using the phrase “my guarantee” or “Modi’s guarantee” in recent weeks was on May 10 — the day of voting for the Karnataka Assembly elections — his public meeting in Rajasthan’s Abu Road.
During the Assembly elections of Himachal Pradesh in December, 2022, and Karnataka in April and May this year, the Congress went to the people with its “guarantees” of social welfare schemes. The Congress had won both the elections, unseating BJP governments in the states. In poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, which is ruled by the BJP, the Congress has promised “five guarantees” including cooking gas cylinder at Rs 500.
At the rally in Sikar, Modi said the BJP government at the Centre gave the “guarantee” of housing for poor, the “guarantee” of free ration and vaccine during the pandemic, the “guarantee” of free medicines, and that of aspiring to become engineers and doctors by allowing technical education in languages other than English.
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“Your humble servant sitting in Delhi is working for the welfare of the poor,” the PM said. He inaugurated various development projects in Sikar and Gujarat’s Rajkot, including an international airport.
Modi said his government had kept a check on inflation. “When they were in power, the rate of inflation was 10 per cent…Had they been in power at present, one litre of milk would have cost Rs 300 while one kg of dal would have been sold for Rs 500," he said, adding that inflation in India’s neighbourhood was 25 to 30 per cent. “We have been trying to control inflation and will continue to do so," he said.
On July 18, the 26-member Opposition alliance named itself Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA. On Tuesday, in his first remarks on the coalition, the PM said that such “anti-India forces” as the East India Company, banned terror outfits Indian Mujahideen and Popular Front of India also had ‘India’ in their names. The PM had made the comments while addressing a BJP parliamentary party meeting in the national capital.
In Sikar, the PM said the Students Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, launched during the Congress years, was banned after it was found involved in terror attacks. The outfit renamed itself Popular Front of India (PFI). “It had a new name but with the same old deeds,” the PM said. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, SIMI was founded in Aligarh on April 25, 1977. The Janata Party government, the country’s first non-Congress government, assumed office in the third week of March 1977.
Without naming the Congress, Modi said that those behind the “INDIA label” were arrogant enough to give the slogan “India is Indira, Indira is India”, but the country taught them a lesson. He said that they (Opposition leaders) were repeating their sin by saying “UPA is India, India is UPA,” but the people will again teach them a lesson. The PM called the Congress a “loot ki dukan, jhooth ka bazar” (a party that runs a shop that loots people in a market of lies and falsehoods).
In Sikar, Modi slammed Rajasthan’s Congress government over its sacked minister Rajendra Gudha’s “red diary”, saying Congress’ “dark deeds” were recorded in the diary. The red diary was recently produced by Gudha in the state assembly. He claimed the diary contained details of the alleged irregular financial transactions of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Earlier in the day, Gehlot alleged that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) cancelled his speech at the government event in Sikar. The PMO later clarified that Gehlot’s office informed them that he (Gehlot) could not attend the programme. It also said he was “most welcome” to join the programme.
Modi also launched Urea Gold — a new variety of urea coated with Sulphur — and released the 14th instalment amount under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) through direct benefit transfer. The PM virtually inaugurated five new medical colleges in Rajasthan and laid the foundation stone of seven medical colleges.
Responding to the PM’s remarks, the Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien asked why the Prime Minister was being “so negative”.
