The Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally at Karnal in Haryana on Saturday. Later in the day, he launched the BJP's campiagn for the Maharashtra Assembly polls at a rally in Beed. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar
Launches BJP’s poll campaign from Munde’s home turf with attack on Congress, NCP
Evoking late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, as his “younger brother” and “friend,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday lambasted the NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra for its “corruption.”
Launching the party’s campaign for the Maharashtra Assembly elections from Beed, in the heart of Marathwada region, Mr. Modi made scathing attacks on the 15-year rule of the NCP-Congress, saying the “hand and clock,” symbols of the Congress and NCP, worked in tandem and “destroyed an entire generation.”
The PM urged voters to give the BJP a clear mandate in the State. “The NCP and Congress belong to the same gotra [clan]. For personal reasons they have opened up different shops but they are the same, with same habits and same goals. They are not rashtravadi (nationalists) but brashtrachaarvadi (corrupt),” i he said.
Mr. Modi shared the dais with Munde’s daughters — Pankaja Munde-Palwe and Pritam Munde — and paid tributes to the late leader before speaking. While Ms. Pankaja Munde will seek to defend her Parli Assembly seat, Ms. Pritam is the BJP’s candidate from Beed Lok Sabha consituency, which fell vacant after the untimely death of her father.
Mr. Modi made several references to the late leader. “If Gopinath Munde was alive today, maybe I wouldn't need to come to Maharashtra. He worked shoulder to shoulder with me, and as a friend whom I trusted to work for the welfare of farmers, poor, and the backward,” he said.
Observers believe that by evoking Munde, who was often described as the OBC face of the party, the BJP was trying to appeal to the backward constituency in the State. “Every child in Maharashtra is Gopinath…I won’t let you feel the absence of my friend, Gopinath Munde,” Mr. Modi told the crowd.
While he took on the NCP-Congress leaders for ignoring the aspirations of the people and only fulfilling their “goals of becoming CM,” he refrained from naming anyone. Significantly, his speech also made no mention of the BJP estranged ally, the Shiv Sena.
Pitching that if the same party, the BJP, ruled at the State and the Centre, it would allow him to work for the development of Maharashtra, Mr. Modi said, “We have to take Maharashtra ahead of Gujarat,” referring to Maharashtra as Gujarat’s “elder brother.” He wondered why despite Gujarat once being a part of Maharashtra, the two States were today discussed for very different reasons. Referring to the work done by his government so far, Mr. Modi said “in 60 months I will rescue the nation from all its problems.”
Mr. Modi referred to his visits to Japan and the U.S. and the visits of the Australian and Chinese heads of State to India, pointing out how engaging with these countries would benefit Maharashtra. Both China and Japan were collaborating with India to build industrial parks in the State, he said, adding that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail, would also benefit Maharashtra. “I want to secure the lives of Maharashtra’s youth, ensure skill development and create a web of small-scale industries,” he said.
Mr. Modi also touched on local issues such as drought and farmer suicides, pointing out that each year 3,700 farmers in Maharashtra took their own lives. “If you want the country to progress, you have to save Maharashtra,” he said.
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