Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday portrayed his demonetisation of high-value notes as a pro-poor measure and censured Congress Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi in an election speech in poverty-stricken eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Sounding defensive during half of his 48-minute speech in Ghazipur, Modi compared his decision to the kadak chai (bitter tea) apparently favoured by the poor, and assured people that whatever hassles they were facing would be over by December 30.
BJP sources believe that the Prime Minister has decided to aggressively court the poor - even at the cost of his traditional vote bank of the middle class and traders if necessary - to wean them away from the Congress and the regional parties.
Modi began by hailing Nehru as the best among the nine Prime Ministers Uttar Pradesh has given the country - a list that includes Modi himself. But while claiming he was paying tribute to Nehru on his birthday, he added a sting.
"In 1962, the Ghazipur Lok Sabha member, Viswanathji, had told Panditji (Nehru) in Parliament with tears in his eyes, 'Although you became Prime Minister from Uttar Pradesh, there is acute poverty in the eastern parts of the state. People collect grains of wheat from cow dung and wash them to make them eatable'," he said.
"This speech was delivered by the then Ghazipur MP, Viswanath Prasadji," the Prime Minister added (the Lok Sabha website names the then Ghazipur MP as Viswanath Singh Gahmari).
Modi said that the same year, at Nehru's behest, a committee headed by H.N. Patel handed in a report on poverty in eastern Uttar Pradesh but neither Nehru nor his successors made it public or acted on it.
"Many Prime Ministers came thereafter... but that report remained locked in a box," he said. "I have deliberately chosen the date, November 14, to visit this place. The country should know on the occasion of Panditji's birth anniversary about those who misled the country from 1962 to 2016."
He went on: "Panditji, wherever be your soul, you left behind a thick file of papers prepared in 1962 on the aspirations of the poor. Maybe the leaders of your party and your family curse me and make false allegations against me, but I'm completing your job of 1962 in 2016."
He added: "Panditji, you may not have received such a tribute in the past."
Modi said that since it was impossible to search every house for black money, "the only option was to reduce the 500 and 1,000-rupee notes into wads of paper". He said the move had been aimed at making "the rich and the poor equal".
"Didn't I do exactly what you had asked me to in 2014? Maybe people are hassled a little. A newly painted wall gives off a smell for days but people still get their homes painted for weddings," he said.
"It's obvious that one will face some problems in doing a good thing but the intention should be good."
Modi then moved to another analogy, which also subtly alluded to his childhood days serving tea at a shop.
"My decision is a bit bitter. When I was a child, the poor used to ask me to make kadak chaifor them. Poor people like bitter tea but the rich dislike it," he said.
Modi said he was pained that "the common man is also suffering" and that this kept him "awake at night to sort out this problem". But he contrasted these "50 days" of inconvenience with the "19 months of Emergency" imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975.
"I want to ask this particularly of the Congressmen. The Emergency was imposed to save Indira Gandhi's chair. Your party converted this country into a prison for 19 months and put lakhs behind bars. This party's leaders and workers collected crores from people in the name of saving them from the police," he said.
He cited how a previous Congress government had scrapped the 25-paise coin.
"You (the Congress) couldn't move beyond the chawanni. You did something of your stature and I have done something of my stature," he said amid chants of "Modi, Modi".
Modi, who laid the foundation stone for a railway bridge over the Ganga today, hailed local legends like the mythological Maharishi Vishwamitra and Jamdagni as well as historical figures such as farmer leader Sahjanand Saraswati and soldier Abdul Hamid, who died in the 1965 war.
As he had done yesterday in Karnataka and Goa, Modi sought public endorsement for his demonetisation decision.
"My lovely brothers and sisters of Ghazipur, answer me by clapping whether I'm doing this for the benefit of the country, the poor, the villagers and the farmers," he said.