MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that wherever a Congress government is formed, that state becomes the ATM of the party’s ‘shashi parivar’ (royal family).
“We won’t let Maharashtra become the ATM of Congress,” Modi said, addressing a campaign rally in Akola for the November 20 assembly elections. “Wherever Congress forms government, that state becomes an ATM for the Congress’ royal family. These days, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana have become their ATMs. In the name of elections in Maharashtra, they have looted Rs 700 crore from liquor sellers in Karnataka. You can imagine the loot once they win the elections,” Modi said.
“Congress is well aware that the more the country weakens, the more they will strengthen themselves. Congress creates a divide between various castes. It never let our castes unite. If our castes do not stay united and remain in conflict with each other, Congress will take advantage of it,” he said. “Congress will take away the rights of SCs. This is their conspiracy and character. You have to stay united. Remember, ‘Ek hai toh safe hai,” Modi added. He criticised the Congress’s approach to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s legacy. “I challenge the shahi parivar of Congress to prove if they ever visited Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s panchteerth,” he said.
Modi has coined the term panchteerth to denote Amedbkar birthplace in Mhow, the place in London where he stayed while studying in the UK, Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur where he embraced Buddhism, his Mahaparinirvan Sthal’ in Delhi, and Chaitya Bhoomi’ in Mumbai.
People of Haryana foiled the conspiracy of Congress by following the Ek hai to safe hai’ (we are safe if we are united) mantra, Modi said. “I have come to seek your blessings for the BJP-led Mahayuti,” he said. On this day in 2019, the Supreme Court of the country gave its verdict on Ram Temple. This date of November 9 will also be remembered because after the decision of the Supreme Court, people of every religion showed great sensitivity, Modi said.
Kharge hits back at BJP ‘divisive pitch’
Countering Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s ‘batenge toh katenge’ slogan, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Saturday that several leaders from his party, including Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, have laid down their lives to unite the country.
Addressing a press conference in Nagpur, Kharge asked the BJP to decide between Yogi’s slogan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unity message of ‘Ek hain, toh safe hain’.
He also hit back at the BJP for criticising his party leader Rahul Gandhi over a copy of the Constitution with a red cover. He showed a picture of PM Modi gifting a similar copy to former President Ramnath Kovind.
The Congress chief accused the BJP and RSS of provoking people to gain votes. Citing a newspaper article, Kharge said he read that RSS favoured the slogan of ‘batenge toh katenge’ (if divided, we perish) being raised by the UP CM. “First, you decide between yourselves whose slogan is to be followed, ‘ Yogi ji’s or Modi ji’s,” he said, adding, “BJP leaders give inciting speeches and speak lies and divert people’s attention from core issues.”
Kharge said two big leaders from Vidarbha did not stop big-ticket projects from being shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat because they were concerned about “saving their own posts and not worried about people’s interest”. He was referring to Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis who hail from Nagpur.
There is an MVA wave in Vidarbha, which elects 62 of the state’s 288 MLAs, Kharge said and expressed confidence that the grouping comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) will win the assembly polls.
He dismissed the BJP’s allegation that the Congress supports ‘urban Naxals’, particularly when their leader Rahul Gandhi keeps talking about saving the Constitution.”Is it a crime to flaunt a copy of the Constitution with a red cover,” he said, referring to Fadnavis’s earlier allegation that Gandhi was building a coalition of anarchists. In many public meetings, Gandhi has waived a copy of the Constitution with a red cover.