Fashionable for Cong to talk of poverty: Modi

banswara/barmer (Rajasthan) — Taking a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday said he has lived the life of a poor and knows what poverty was, but for some people, it has become fashionable to talk about the poor and poverty.

“Like a child appearing in an exam chants the name of god, the Congress starts chanting names of the poor when elections come. It has become quite fashionable for them,” Modi said at an election rally at Saladiya, a tribal area in Rajasthan’s Banswara district.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said poverty has become like a “tourist destination” for some people.

“They take along with them a couple of photographers, get them- selves clicked with a child from a poor family and claim that they are working towards the welfare of the poor. “However, how can Shehzada claim to know what poverty is? To pass time, people talk about cinema and cricket, for Shehzada, talking about poverty is the favourite pastime,” said Modi.

“I know what poverty is. I sold tea to people in trains and slept hungry at night. I know what poverty really is because I have lived it.”

The Gujarat chief minister said the results of the Lok Sabha election are already known to the people.

“The existing government will lose. Even black magic cannot save them because it has been 60 years since independence, but Congress has done nothing for the tribals. It was (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji who set up a separate ministry for tribal people,” he said. —