The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘Royal magician’: Modi takes jibe at Rahul over remark on ending poverty
HITTING OUT at one of the components in Congress manifesto which is in favour of nuclear disarmament, PM Narendra Modi said Sunday at a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district that the promises of “INDI alliance partners are dangerous”, and asked if such people can protect the country.
Taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi without taking his name, Modi said, “the Congress shehzada made an announcement and you will laugh after hearing it.”
“The Congress shehzada announced that in one move ‘I will eradicate poverty in the country’. Now tell me won’t you laugh? Can you trust such people? The nation is asking where this shahi (royal) magician was hiding for years? For 10 years, before 2014, they ran the government with a remote control. Now they are saying they have found a mantra. Where did they find it? Is this not a joke on the poor?” Modi said.
Modi said the whole world was enveloped in an“atmosphere of fear” and for “such a world, a strong and powerful India is necessary”. “A party which can’t make themselves strong, how will they make the nation strong? Look at the condition of the INDI alliance. The manifesto is a responsibility. They can’t decide which direction the country is headed. In their manifesto there are dangerous promises. One of their alliance partners in their manifesto says we will remove nuclear weapons from the country. Tell me will a country think like this? We should have nuclear weapons to protect our country; those saying otherwise how will they protect India?” Modi said.
On the birth anniversary of Dr BRA mb edk ar, Mo di claimed “parties like the Congress have always worked to disrespect Baba Saheb”. “We have given him (Ambedkar) a new identity in modern India. The app used to make digital payments is called Bhim UPI, named after Baba Saheb,” he said, adding “the respect that the Congress could not give dr am bedk ar we had the fortune of giving that respect ”.
“The royal family of Congress,” he said “was giving threats that if Modi becomes the PM third time, the country will be in flames.” “They said this in 2014, 2019 and when the Ram Mandir was being built. The same thing they said for Article 370. Did a fire break out? The fire of jealousy has broken out in their hearts... it is burning them from the inside,” he said.
‘Black money sent to Congress’
At a rally in Mysuru, Modi alleged that “hundreds of crores of black money was being sent from the state to different parts of the country to fund the Indian National Congress”.
The Karnataka state government coffers are “empty”, he said, “due to the loot under Congress rule”. “India's IT hub Bengaluru is battling a severe water crisis. There is a black market of water tankers operating in the city. Amid all this, for the Congress to fight polls, hundreds of crores of black money is being sent from Karnataka to different parts of the country,” Modi said.
This was the first rally where the PM shared the dais with BJP’S coalition partner ink ar nat aka, the JD(S). Among the leaders who took part in the rally were JD(S) supremo H DD eve Gowda,B JP Parliamentary Board member BS Ye diyu rap pa, andjd(s) state pres id en tHDK um arasw amy.
Recalling a recent incident at a Congress rally in Kalaburagi where Congress MLA Laxman Savadi had allegedly sought permission to raise “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” slogans, Modi said, “Earlier, they opposed Vande Mataram. Now, there isa reluctance to ch ant Bharat Mata Ki Jai.”