BHOPAL/LUCKNOW : In the Hindi heartland of Madhya Pradesh and UP, Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday swore to Mahakal saying, “I bow before no one else, except Mahakal and the people of India.”
The PM’s remark came at a rally in eastern MP’s Maoist-affected Balaghat district. He was speaking in support of BJP candidates, Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste (Mandla-ST seat) and Bharti Pardhi (Balaghat seat).
Earlier in UP’s Pilibhit, he hit out at the Congress for rejecting the invite for the consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya for its “politics of appeasement”, and accused it of having insulted Lord Ram.
He was in Pilibhit to seek support for BJP candidate Jitin Prasada who has replaced sitting MP Varun Gandhi. The PM said the Samajwadi Party was stood with INDI Alliance partner Congress which was so deeply entrenched in politics of appeasement that it hated the construction of Ram temple and tried every trick to stop it from coming up.
BJP MP Varun Gandhi was conspicuous by his absence from the PM Narendra Modi rally in Pilibhit, days after being denied ticket to contest.
While recounting the ages-old association of Lord Ram with Balaghat district (which houses Rampayli village linked to the Lord Ram’s exile period), Modi said, “Abusing Modi is understandable, but some INDIA bloc partners are contesting the LS polls with a vow to destroy Sanatan Dharma.”
He said the INDIA bloc was particularly annoyed with him due to the government’s action against corruption. “I’m closing all routes of corruption and sending the money meant for the poor directly into their accounts. All those who looted poor people’s money are now under a clampdown,” he said.
‘Something good for Varun’
The BJP must have thought something good for Varun Gandhi, said BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Bhupendra Chaudhary on Tuesday over the absence of the incumbent Pilibhit MP during PM Narendra Modi’s rally in the constituency. The party has denied a ticket to Varun Gandhi from the constituency.