Modi, Rahul trade barbs
Bastar, where Left Wing extremists have influence, votes on Monday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a busy international itinerary next week, hit the campaign trail on Friday in poll-bound Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, as did Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
Addressing a public rally in Jagdalpur, the PM accused the Congress of supporting “urban Maoists” and spreading lies.
The Congress chief, at a rally in Kanker, said Modi has forgotten his commitments made to youths and farmers in 2014, and has now taken to talk about Maoism to hide his government’s failures to deliver on those promises.
The Chhattisgarh Assembly has 90 seats, and 18 seats in Bastar, where Left Wing extremists have influence, are scheduled to vote on November 12, with campaigning ending on Saturday. Rest of the seats vote on November 20.
The PMis scheduled to travel to Singapore to attend the East Asia Summit on November 14 and 15, and will also attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Maldivian president-elect in Male on November 17.
The Congress is looking at ending the 15-year rule of Raman Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, where the last couple of elections have been decided by a difference in vote share between the two parties of a percentage point or less.
A three-cornered contest, with Ajit Jogi-led Janata Congress Chhattisgarh, Bahujan Samaj Party and Communist Party of India alliance also in the fray, has queered the pitch for the Congress.
In his speech, the PM said BJP’s mantra was development, while that of Congress party’s was to lie incessantly. He said Congress supported “urban Maoists”, who travel in air-conditioned cars and their children study abroad but they get children of Bastar to wield guns instead of reading books. Alluding to a recent statement by Congress leader Raj Babbar where he had described naxalites as revolutionaries, Modi said Congress leaders were apologists for Maoists.
The PM didn’t respond to any of the Congress’s allegations on the Rafale fighter jet deal, but said Congress was adept at lying. He said Congress leaders born in palaces with silver spoons in their mouth cannot understand the problems faces by tribals, and said he has resolved to make Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision for Chhattisgarh a reality.
The Vajpayee government had bifurcated Madhya Pradesh to create Chhattisgarh. Modi said 9,000 villages of Chhattisgarh have been linked with roads during the tenure of his government and he built a medical college and hospital in the state.
In Kanker, Gandhi said the PM has forgotten the promises he made to the people in 2014 of creating 20 million jobs a year, crack down on black money, depositing ~1.5 million in bank accounts of all Indians, and waiver of farm loans. “He no longer talks about any of this, but about naxalism. Earlier he used to talk about corruption, but no longer because chowkidar chor hai,” Gandhi said.
The Congress chief asked the people whether they saw people like Anil Ambani, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and NiravModi stand in queues during demonetisation.
“Why was it that those with black money didn’t stand in queues, but honest hard working people of India were forced to? Why is that Modi in his speeches no longer talks about notebandi and ‘Gabbar Singh tax’?” Gandhi asked.