Launching a new poll slogan for the Bharatiya Janata Party, Narendra Modi urged citizens not to vote for parties but ‘Vote For India’.
Addressing a mammoth gathering at the Bandra-Kurla Complex ground on Sunday afternoon, Modi slammed the Congress, saying those who immersed in corruption are now giving “sermons” against it.
Modi began his speech by greeting the gathering in Marathi and compared Gujarat and Maharashtra. “Just yesterday I came across an observation that both Maharashtra and Gujarat were founded on the same day, 1 May, 1960. Till today Gujarat has had 14 chief ministers, while Maharashtra has had 26 CMs. To understand the problems of the nation, one has to understand the character of the Congress,” said Modi.
He said Congress was a party which thrives on vote bank politics. He said, while fighting the British Empire, Congress has learned from them the policy of divide and rule. “There is a fight between people in cities and villages, between states over water. As long as people fight among themselves, the vote bank of Congress is safe,” said Modi.
Modi said, what the Congress leaders preach and practice are different. “For instance, I heard a Congress leader in Delhi talk about corruption. Look at their audacity. At the same time the Congress leader was talking about the problems of corruption, the Congress government in Maharashtra rejected the Adarsh commission report, which indicted corrupt ministers and bureaucrats. This is how the Congress operates,” said Modi.
Demonstrating how corruption thrived, he said: “Gujarat and Maharashtra share boundaries and the same vehicles that pass Gujarat checkposts enter Maharashtra through its checkposts and are billed the same fee. However, in last 10 years Maharashtra has collected `437 crore, whereas Gujarat has collected `1,033 crore more,” he said.
Modi claimed that Congress was involved in keeping black money in Switzerland. The BJP had said that not even one of our leaders had black money in Switzerland. He then dared the Congress to give the same commitment.