Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed a public rally in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where he launched a scathing attack on the Congress party, saying that those who considered power as their "birthright" have not managed to come at the Centre for the past ten years.
PM Modi also accused the grand old party of "misleading" the citizens of India and alleged that it was busy "conspiring" against the nation out of anger.
"Agitations have always been taking place. But during the last some time, all of you must have seen a huge change. The sense of the Constitution is being trampled on. The dignity of democracy is being rejected. The people who consider power as their birthright have lost the central power for the last decade. They are also angry towards the people for blessing someone else than them. They are so full of anger that they are conspiring against the nation," he said.
"They have started misguiding the people to take the nation in the wrong direction... Their shop of lies and rumours has been running for the last 75 years. They have now sped up their mission. Their activities are becoming a huge challenge for the people who love their country... I want to tell everyone that we have to stay alert and keep making the people aware. We have to uncover every lie," the PM added, warning people to stay alert.
PM Modi further hit out at the Opposition's "Chowkidar" remarks, stating that the "power-hungry" people always lie and if one of it doesn't work, they come up with a bigger lie.
"These power-hungry people have only lied to the public. When one of their lies does not work on people, they fabricate a bigger lie. They do the same to give false assurance to their workers also...In 2019, the 'chowkidar' was a thief for them (referring to Congress-led opposition), but the same 'chowkidar' became honest by 2024, and they haven't abused him since then. They only want to befool people and regain power," he said.
The Prime Minister further slammed the Opposition for "ill-campaigning" against the BJP-led central government. He recalled BJP's historic win in the Odisha Lok Sabha polls earlier this year and attributed the reason behind the win to the work done by the BJP at the Centre for Odisha and its affinity towards the state.
"Opposition always does ill-campaigning against the BJP government, but the public itself gives the blessings to the BJP. Till a few months before the elections, some big political experts were completely rejecting the BJP in Odisha. These people were saying that the BJP cannot become such a big force in Odisha that it can form the government on its own strength. But when the results came, these people were surprised. Because the work of the BJP government at the Centre for the people of Odisha and the sense of affinity it maintained with the people of Odisha even while sitting in Delhi, had reached every household in Odisha," he said.
Talking about the surprising victory of the BJP in Odisha this year, he said: "I can see the energy and enthusiasm among people here, and the Assembly election results of Maharashtra and Haryana have instilled the nation with a new confidence... Before Assembly polls (in Odisha), political experts claimed that BJP has no chance in Odisha, saying the party cannot form the government on its own. But the (Odisha Assembly poll) results had surprised everyone," says PM Modi.
After addressing the rally, PM Modi also held a roadshow in the capital city of Odisha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a three-day visit to Odisha to attend the All India Conference of Director Generals/ Inspector Generals of Police 2024 that will begin Bhubaneswar from November 30.