MUMBAI: Thumping chest for proposing Savarkar’s name for Bharat Ratna and ridiculing opposition for questioning issue of article 370 being raised during a campaign for Maharashtra assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday further establish the ‘nationalism v/s dynastic rule’ narrative as he addressed three rallies in the state.
Modi hailed Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar while addressing his first rally of the day at Akola in Eastern Vidarbha and said, “It is his ‘Sanskar’ (values) that we consider nationalism as the basis for nation-building.”
At Jalna in Marathwada, Modi slammed the Congress over dynastic politics and accused it of seeing “nationalism” in “devotion towards a family”.
At his third and final rally at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, Modi painted a rosy picture of India’s rising clout in the world and Maharashtra’s ‘prime’ role in making of this “New India”. He also appealed voters to elect Devendra Fadnavis back into power just as they did to him during the Lok Sabha elections and said, “The Narendra-Devendra double engine is crucial for India’s development”.
On the backdrop of BJP’s Maharashtra unit sought Bharat Ratna for Savarkar in its manifesto for the October 21 Maharashtra polls, PM Modi said that Babasaheb Ambedkar too was denied the Bharat Ratna for a long time.
He termed the opposition “shameless” while lashing them for objecting to raising the issue of abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir during campaigning for the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
“For political gains, some are openly saying that Article 370 has nothing to do with Maharashtra assembly polls, that Jammu and Kashmir has nothing to do with Maharashtra. I want to tell such people that J&K and its people are also sons of Maa Bharti,” Modi said, and asked, “How dare they question (abrogation of) Article 370 and ask how is it connected to Maharashtra polls?”
Modi also dubbed the Congress-NCP alliance as a “bhrashtwadi yuti” (corrupt coalition), that pushed Maharashtra backwards by a decade.
“At one time, there were regular incidents of terrorism and hatred in Maharashtra. The culprits got away, and settled in different countries. India wants to ask the people who were in power then, how did all of this happen? How did they escape,” Modi said gunning at NCP’s Sharad Pawar, without naming him.
Referring to the NCP's clock symbol showing a time of 10 minutes past 10, he said the Sharad Pawar-led party and the Congress will win only 10 seats each in the October 21 Maharashtra poll.
“The (Congress) party is taking its last breath. It sees ‘rashtra bhakti’ (nationalism) in ‘Parivar bhakti’ (devotion to a family),” Modi without taking any names.
While speaking at Partur in Jalna district, Modi said, Marathwada gave three chief ministers to the state, but still the region is backward in terms of development, while in Navi Mumbai, he mentioned various big-ticket infrastructure projects coming up in the vicinity of the city while making an appeal to elect Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis back into the seat.
“Just like you brought back Narendra once again to power in Delhi, bring back Devendra back to power again in Maharashtra. Formula of Narendra and Devendra has been super-hit in last five years... When Narendra and Devendra stand together, 1+1 becomes 11 and not 2,” Modi said.
“Modern infrastructure worth lakhs of crores will provide better facilities, business and new employment opportunities once they are completed. The whole Konkan region will become a pillar for the new economy of New India,” he added.
He also appealed people to shun single use plastic.