 "PM Modi")
In his public meetings in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday claimed that decisions within the Congress were being influenced by "urban Naxals". In Madhya Pradesh he warned that the state might revert to its “Bimaru” (economically sick) status, should the Congress return to power, and in Rajasthan he accused the Congress-run state government of being “kind to terrorists”.
In an indication that the women's reservation Bill might be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s key poll plank in the coming Assembly elections in five states, the Prime Minister claimed that the Congress had been forced to support the Bill, and it had done so “reluctantly”.
The PM addressed these public meetings in Bhopal and Jaipur on the birth anniversary of Jan Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya, whom the government has since 2015 cited as the inspiration behind its 'garib kalyan' welfare schemes. The BJP’s women workers celebrated the passage of the women's reservation Bill at these events. And, later in the evening, a 72-foot statue of Upadhyaya was unveiled at the BJP's national headquarters in New Delhi.
In Rajasthan, the BJP has yet to confirm its chief minister candidate. Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who had been conspicuously absent in recent weeks from key party events, was present at the PM’s Jaipur address on Monday, which marked the end of the BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatras’.
In Madhya Pradesh, even as the BJP is running a government under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP's election campaign seemed centred around Modi. The slogan and theme song “Modi ke mann mein basey MP, MP ke mann mein Modi” played on loudspeakers as the PM made his way to the dais in an open-top vehicle. The PM’s Bhopal rally marked the conclusion of the BJP’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatras’.
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"The Congress and its allies in the 'Ghamandia' (arrogant) bloc (INDIA) supported the Women's Reservation Bill out of compulsion and hesitation as they understood the power of 'nari shakti'. Its passage (in Parliament) became possible as 'Modi hai to mumkin hai'. Modi means the guarantee of fulfilling guarantees," the PM said in Bhopal.
While the Congress has announced women-specific "guarantees" in MP and Rajasthan, it stole a march over the BJP in the Karnataka Assembly polls by its pro-women "guarantees" in May 2023.
The PM had last spoken of “urban naxals” in the run-up to the December 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls, which was then interpreted to be an attack on the Aam Aadmi Party. However, speaking in Parliament in February 2022, weeks before the Assembly polls in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Modi accused the Congress of being “trapped by the urban Naxals”, and said its “thought process had been captured by urban Naxals”, making it “destructive”. The Congress had walked out of the House in protest.
In Parliament on Thursday, responding to Rahul Gandhi’s charge that only three of the government’s secretary-level bureaucrats were from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, BJP President J P Nadda had said he was being tutored by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Modi’s reference to “urban naxals” running the Congress has come a day after the party’s students’ union, the National Students Union of India (NSUI), losing the Delhi University Students Union (Dusu) polls to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -affiliated students union.
At Monday’s rally in Bhopal, which marked the start of the PM’s campaign in MP, Modi warned the youth that the Congress would push their state into the Bimaru category if it were to rule it again. This was a reference to the acronym coined in 1985 by demographer Ashish Bose to describe the poor economic growth, healthcare, education and other indices of the states of Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and UP. The PM had also spoken of this term earlier this year, in February, while addressing events in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The PM alleged that the Congress had been outsourced and "urban Naxals had got the contract". "First, the Congress was ruined (electorally) and then it turned bankrupt. The Congress has been now leased out on a contract. They are framing its policies and coining slogans. It is not being run by leaders," he said. "They are holding sway in the Congress which is being felt by that party's workers on the ground. The Congress is becoming redundant on the ground."
Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, without taking his name, Modi said, for Congress leaders born with a silver spoon, "the life of poor people is like an adventure tourism and picnic, and the poor person's farm is a place for video shooting and photo session." In Rajasthan, the PM also attacked the Congress over the “Sanatan Dharma” issue.
