Congress demoralizing jawans by asking for air strike proof: PM Modi at Patna rally

The Prime Minister during NDA's rally in Patna on Sunday said that when India should have spoken in one voice, 21 opposition parties gathered in Delhi to adopt a resolution condemning the Centre.
Prime Minister Modi in a rally at Patna on 3 March 2019. (Photo |BJP Twitter)
Prime Minister Modi in a rally at Patna on 3 March 2019. (Photo |BJP Twitter)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took on the Opposition parties aggressively over last month’s air strikes on terror camps across the Indo-Pak border, accusing them of conspiring to finish him off instead of cooperating for the elimination of terrorism.

“When the country’s able military is crushing terror, some people within the country are trying to weaken the citizens’ voices and damage the military’s morale, thus emboldening the enemy. Their words are causing applause in Pakistan,” he said at the massive ‘Sankalp rally’ of NDA at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan.

Accusing 21 Opposition parties of getting together to pass a condemnation proposal against the NDA government after the Pulwama attack, Modi said: “The people of Bihar and the people of the country will never forgive these parties”.

“I am working day and night to take India to new heights. But they (Congress-led UPA) are busy conspiring to crush me down. Their conspiracies are out now. The people will punish them once again,” said the PM. “They ask people to come together to crush Modi, but Modi asks people to come together to crush terrorism. They want to eliminate Modi, but I want to eliminate poverty, terrorism, corruption, malnutrition,” he added.

Stressing that the attitude of Congress-led governments towards terrorism has been inadequate and weak, Modi said India is “now moving ahead with new line of decisive action against terrorism”.

“Should we speak of anything that causes cheers in Pakistan? Now they (Opposition parties) have also started seeking evidence of the air strikes on terror bases across the border. I want to ask Congress leaders why they are so keen on breaking our military’s morale,” said the PM as the sizeable crowd cheered.

In a clear reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s chanting of “Chowkidar chor hai” (watchman is a thief) at a UPA rally in neighbouring Jharkhand on Saturday, Modi said: “Congress and its allies are busy abusing the country’s chowkidar. But rest assured, the chowkidar is fully alert on every front at every moment, starting from the security of the poor to the security of the country’s borders,” he said.

With this rally, which saw the PM and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) sharing an NDA dais for the first time in nine years, Modi effectively sounded the bugle for the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar. He attacked Congress and Bihar’s main Opposition party RJD over corruption and inattention to the basic needs of citizens.

“We (NDA government) are taking all decisions for the nation’s safety and the welfare of the poor with full commitment and authority. Such strong decisions will keep being taken in future,” said Modi.

Accusing the previous UPA government of deliberate inaction in strengthening the country’s basic infrastructure, Modi said: “The NDA government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee had started so many welfare schemes and infrastructure projects in the country. But the Congress-led government that followed made the pace of those initiatives too slow. Our Nitish Kumar is a himself witness to this”.

“From 2014 till today, the (government’s) stress has been on strengthening the country’s basic infrastructure. After 2019, the priorities will be on taking the country forward to new heights in the 21st century. In the past five years, the NDA government has created a solid base for a new India,” added the PM.

Warning voters against voting for UPA, Modi said: “If there comes a maha-milawat government in the country, there will be no strong decisions and no welfare of the poor. They (UPA) have no real concerns for the welfare of the poor and the empowerment of the nation”.

Nitish Kumar praised the PM for the air strikes on Pakistan-based terror camps and for the infrastructure and welfare projects. Modi would once again become PM, he said, adding that all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar would go in NDA’s kitty.

The rally was also addressed by Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan and Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP.

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