To glorify one family, attempts made to belittle other towering leaders: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that to glorify one family, deliberate attempts were being made to belittle the contributions of other towering leaders in nation building, as he paid rich tributes to Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee.

In a veiled attack on the Congress, he said it was spreading "lies, confusion and pessimism" and was cut off from the ground reality.

"It is unfortunate that to glorify one family, deliberate attempts were made to belittle the contributions of other towering personalities in the country," Modi told a public meeting after launching the Mohanpura Irrigation Project in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh.

He said the party which ruled the country for maximum years never trusted the people and their hard work.

He said when the Congress ruled the state, Madhya Pradesh was called a BIMARU state, but the BJP government pulled the state out of that tag. "The Congress never saw this as an insult to the people of the state. The BJP had worked hard to remove this tag," he added.

Modi said in the past four years at the Centre and 13 years in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP had worked for the uplift and empowerment of poor, farmers and deprived sections of society.

He also alleged that the opposition party's policy of vote-bank politics, by way of welfare schemes, was fading. "The Congress's vote-bank politics by way of different welfare schemes is fading," he claimed.

"Everyone knows that during the Congress' time, the names of housing projects, their construction and the quality of construction were shrouded in controversies," he alleged.

"The development of civic amenities and infrastructure in cities did not match the growth in population. Under the previous Congress rule, cities remained neglected," he claimed.

Recalling Mookerjee's contribution to the country, Modi said, "His vision inspires us even today and helps us come out of despondency."

"Today BJP's government at the Centre and in the states are running based on the vision of Mookerjee," he added.

He said Mookerjee died in a "suspicious" manner in Kashmir, where he was on a visit in 1953. "It is a coincidence that today is the death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee. On June 23, he died in a suspicious manner in Kashmir. I remember him on this occasion."

The BJP, the successor party of the BJS, observes June 23 as 'Balidan Diwas'.

“Today BJP’s government at the Centre and in the states are running based on the vision of (Shyama Prasad) Mookerjee"