PM Modi In Chhattisgarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Chhattisgarh for a campaign rally in Dhamtari district, lashed out at the Congress and alleged that the grand old party encouraged violence to hide its corruption, and promised that he would "root out" Naxalism from Chhattisgarh.
While addressing the rally, PM Modi paused his speech after a girl holding his photo caught his attention. A clip of the rally surfaced on the Internet in which the kid can be seen carrying a photo of the Prime Minister, and she sought his attention. After noticing the kid in the crowd, PM Modi asked the SPG team to take the photo from her, and he also asked the kid to put her name and address on the photo. "I will write a letter to you',' he said to the kid.
"Daughter you are standing with this photo in your hand, you will get tired. What do you want to do? You want to give the photo to me, you have brought this to give it to me?," PM Modi asked the girl.
During the rally, PM Modi said that Congress and development cannot go hand in hand, and wherever it was in power, corruption and violence reached their peak. When it was in power in the North East, violent activities could not be brought under control, and as long as it ruled in Chhattisgarh, Naxalite violence kept on rising, Modi said.
"What is the connection between Congress and violence? The answer is corruption. Congress kept on encouraging violence to hide its corruption. People kept dying, but Congress kept on filling its coffers," he alleged, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Claiming that the BJP government brought both corruption and Maoist violence under control, Modi said, "Naxalism has been declining rapidly in Chhattisgarh. I give a guarantee to the parents that I will root out naxalism. I assure mothers that the lives of their children will not go to waste, and they will not fall into the habit of roaming in the forest with guns. To protect your child, I assure every mother that I will eliminate naxalism and maoism," as quoted by PTI.
"On April 19, voting was held in the Bastar seat of Chhattisgarh and also in other states. The first phase has made it clear that people have made up their mind. They have decided to make India a powerful country for which a strong government has to be elected," the prime minister further said. Members of the opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc were fighting with each other, he said. "Two days ago, at a rally of the INDI alliance in Jharkhand, heads were broken and clothes were torn. This is the condition of these people," Modi said.
He further stated that in its most recent rally, half of those present at the alliance's very first meeting were missing. In Delhi, members of the Congress' "shahi parivar'" (referring to the Nehru-Gandhi family) can not vote for their own party (because some seats have been ceded to the AAP, he said.
"They are asking for votes across the country, but their own vote will not go to Congress. Because there is no Congress candidate in the place where the `shahi parivar' lives. How can Chhattisgarh trust Congress which has lost trust even in Delhi," Modi said, as quoted by PTI.