Modi launches Gujarat election campaign blitz
VALSAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed to people to be wary of those who defame Gujarat as he sought to step up the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Addressing a rally in Valsad district, the first of eight over three days, Modi said the people of Gujarat have never hurt anybody and embraced whoever comes to the state.
“Be aware of the people who want to defame Gujarat and are speaking against us. They are trying to defame Gujarat and Gujaratis. They are also trying to defame our state in foreign countries,” the Prime Minister said. While this was his second rally in the district since the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, the rallies over the weekend and on Monday represents the launch of a campaign blitz that the PM often undertakes ahead of crucial elections.
The voting in the BJP-ruled state will be held in two phases, on December 1 and 15. The votes will be counted on December 8.
“Tell them (opposition parties) to stop using such language. The people of Gujarat have never tried to hurt anybody. Wherever they went, they mingled with local people like sugar is dissolved in milk. If somebody comes from outside, they have embraced them,” he said.
He also took a swipe at Con
gress, saying the bill of the current monthly data usage which is Rs 250-300 would have been Rs 5,000 had Congress remained in power. “In previous Congress rule, 1 GB data cost Rs 300, now it is Rs 10,” he added.
The Congress was in power in the state in 1997, when the party joined hands with rebel BJP leader Shankersinh Vaghela’s Rashtriya Janata Party who served as the chief minister from 1996 to 1997.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that the after all these years, the BJP is finally acknowledging Congress’s contribution in the telecom and IT sector.
“The revolution in IT and telecom came under Congress’s rule and BJP has finally started accepting this. The licences under 2G were given at a cheap rate by Congress when it was in power at the Centre and hence the prices of mobile data and usage is so low today. Gujarat and Gujaratis are hailed all across the world and all talks of somebody trying to defame Gujarat or Gujaratis is baseless. Instead of making such statements, the BJP should answer about education becoming costlier in Gujarat under its rule, joblessness and distress among farmers,” said Doshi.
Earlier in the day, Modi conducted roadshows in the disthe trict’s Vapi city, where he was welcomed by thousands of supporters.
“People ask me that when all surveys, political commentators and even the people, are saying that BJP is going to win big and that it is a foregone conclusion, then why are you working so hard? I can understand their feelings towards me and I can also understand the feelings of people who have gathered here. But as a citizen of this country, it is my duty to go before the people, give an account of the work done in all these years and seek votes as blessings,” the PM said.
“Gujarat has decided to break all records by Narendra and make a new one under Bhupendra (Patel). This is a victory call,” he said. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.
Ahead of the Assembly elections, the Prime Minister is expected to participate in at least eight programmes crisscrossing the state from Saurashtra to Surat.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold rallies in Gujarat’s Saurashtra for three consecutive days from November 20 to November 22. More than 150,000 people are expected by the party to participate in these rallies.
On November 20, after visiting the Somnath Temple, he is scheduled to address four rallies in the Saurashtra region. Venues have been finalised at Veraval, Dhorarji, Amreli and Botad.
PM Modi is also expected to have a closed-door meeting with the state leaders during his stay here to further boost the party in the western state.