‘Don’t believe in vote bank politics, nation comes first’
PM VISIT On the second day of his visit to Varanasi, Modi says he will ensure graft is routed
VARANASI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday the BJP did not believe in vote bank politics as the country was above party politics.
On the second day of his visit to his Varanasi parliamentary constituency, Modi told a gathering that he had launched a major war against corruption and the corrupt to ease the life of the common man.
He said most of the problems faced by the common people in India were rooted in corruption.
“I have launched a war against it and will take it further to ensure that graft is weeded out from the country.”
Attacking political rivals, the PM said the opposition parties worked to strengthen their vote bank but the BJP preferred development to votes.
“They (opposition parties) carry out development work only to strengthen their vote bank but we were brought up with different ‘sanskars’. Our priorities are different,” Modi said.
“Hamare liye dal se bada desh hai, isiliye hamari prathamiktayen vote ke hisab se nahi hoti (We keep nation above the party, therefore, vote bank is not our priority).
Stressing on the importance of cleanliness, he said said “swacchta has to become ‘swabhav’ (habit) to achieve the goal of a clean India”.
Addressingthegatheringafter inaugurating Pashudhan Arogya Mela (livestock health fair), Modi said maintaining cleanliness was the responsibility of every citizen and family.
“I got the opportunity to help in construction of toilet in the vil- lage. This is like worship to me. Cleanliness is an initiative to serve the poor,” he said while appreciating the resolution by the locals to make their village open defecation free by October 2.
“While I was laying the foundation of a toilet, I saw ‘Izzatghar’ written on toilets that had already been constructed. Toilet is really ‘izzatghar’, especially for women. Villages which have ‘izzatghars’ (toilets) will earn respect,” Modi said.
Hailing the Yogi Adityanath government for naming toilets as ‘izzatghar’, the PM said he hoped those people who wanted to get respect would construct toilets in their houses.
Modi congratulated the UP government for organising the fair successfully and said such events would be held across the state.
He added that the effort would motivate farmers to rear cattle which would increase milk productivity. “The initiative will promote economic activities and will benefit the people,” he said.