Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi holds a sword presented by BJP leader Sawarn Salaria (right) during a rally at Madhopur near Pathankot in Punjab yesterday.

IANS/Madhopur, Punjab

 

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged the people to oust the “autocratic” Congress government.

Modi, chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election campaign panel, took jibes at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“Congress ‘ek nirankush party hai’ (the Congress is an autocratic party). There are two pradhans (chiefs) in Delhi. I don’t know which one is real,” Modi said about Singh and Gandhi.

The BJP strongman was addressing his first public rally after his elevation in the party.

The rally was held to mark the 60th death anniversary of Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in this town on the Punjab-Jammu and Kashmir border.

“The future of the people of this country is not secure in the hands of the Congress. I want to ask the prime minister how he is running the country. We cannot let this country fall into more danger,” Modi said.

“We (BJP) unite people. We unite parties and hearts. We do not do vote-bank politics,” Modi said.

He said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had failed to take any strong steps on issues like the killing of Sarabjit Singh in a Lahore prison, the beheading of Indian soldiers allegedly by Pakistani troops or the killing of poor fishermen close to the Kerala coast by Italian marines.

“Questions are being raised about why the accused in the Purulia arms-drop case are still roaming around scot-free in their own country. What are we (government) doing?” Modi said.

He said the UPA government had failed to provide adequate employment to youth.

“They have not been able to provide even half the number of jobs provided by the government of then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (1999-2004),” he said.

“Had the Vajpayee government come back to power in the 2004 general elections, the issue would have been addressed. Things would have been different in Kashmir now. Kashmiri Pandits would have got their rights and respect. The youth of Kashmir would have been part of the national mainstream,” Modi said.

He said Mookerjee had always fought against the “do vidhan, do pradhan” (two constitutions, two leaders) concept related to Jammu and Kashmir and even sacrificed his life for the cause.

“Like Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, we also want to rid the country of the two pradhans (in the UPA government),” Modi said.

The BJP leader said Mookerjee had become a martyr to maintain unity of the country. “Questions are being raised even today on how he died mysteriously. No one had heard of ill-health before he died,” Modi said.

He said three top leaders of the country’s first government - Sardar Patel, Bhimrao Ambedkar and Mookerjee - had their independent voice in the Jawaharlal Nehru government. “They all left the government one by one. Nehru never liked them,” Modi added.

He also said the Congress and the rupee were falling at the same time.

“These days, the Congress party and the rupee are in a competition - to fall. Everyday, they are in competition on who is falling more,” Modi said.

“The country is getting ruined but the government is not doing anything,” he alleged.

The rupee has fallen to its lowest value, touching nearly Rs60 to a dollar.

The UPA government has been embroiled in several scams in the last three years. These include the coal block allocation, Commonwealth Games, helicopter purchase, high-level appointments in railways and others.

Modi said the multi-million rupee advertisement campaign started by the UPA government to highlight its achievements had also been taken off in the last few days.

“The ads worth millions and billions are not being shown in the last 10 days. I had questioned the campaign,” he said.

While none of the top national leaders of the BJP attended the rally, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and BJP leader Shanta Kumar were present.