Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday mounted a sharp attack on the Congress and said unlike earlier times, there was no corruption in his government and every rupee meant for development was reaching the desired end.
He said that after coming to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ended the system of giving benefits of social schemes selectively to those who voted for a particular party, or those who were close to some politicians.
Speaking at a rally here, Modi said more roads were constructed in Chhattisgarh in the last four years than during the entire period after independence.
“Wasn’t there money available before? Didn’t we have a road transport and highways department before? Didn’t we have engineers before? And didn’t people have demands before? Yet it didn’t happen. Why?
“That’s because, as one of the Congress prime ministers said, only 15 paise out of every rupee spent on development reached the villages,” Modi said.
Making a reference to Congress’ election symbol, he said: “Which was this hand which made rupee to value only 15 paise?”
“Today, the development is happening for one reason – the same rupee, which then accounted for 15 paise worth of work, is today leading to 100 paise worth of work. That’s why the work is now visible,” Modi said.
He added that while the poor always demanded that they be given homes and many political parties promised it during polls, this never happened.
“There were big slogans about eliminating poverty. But did the poor get homes? And even if they did, they were the peons of some big bureaucrat, or a servant of some politician,” he said.
The prime minister added that his government changed the system and decided there would be no discrimination based on caste, religion or vote bank.
“We decided that schemes will be made for all and they should benefit everyone. We decided that by 2022 – which marks 75 years of independence – no family in India would be left without a home and the poorest of poor will have a roof over their heads...not just those who are thought of as a vote bank,” Modi said.
He said similarly, when the then government decided to build toilets, they chose those villages where people voted for them.
“But we decided that this won’t work. If toilets are to be built, they will be built for all.”
“If rich families get LPG connection, then the poor will get it, too. In four years, we gave as many LPG connections as earlier governments gave since independence,” Modi said.
He said his government also decided to fulfil the long-time demand of farmers to get a fair price for their produce.
“For 60 years, they ran the government. But it was when our government came to power that we agreed to their demand and announced that farmers will get minimum support price one-and-a-half times their production cost,” Modi said.
He hailed Chief Minister Raman Singh for his initiatives to end the “menace of naxalism” and bringing development at the doorsteps of poor and tribal.
Later addressing a BJP rally in Jharsuguda, Odisha, Modi attacked the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in the state saying so many scams have surfaced where corruption and delay in decisions have become its identity and was hampering development.
He also criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s government for opting out of the central government’s ambitious health insurance scheme that is to be rolled out today.
He was addressing the rally after inaugurating the Jharsuguda Airport.
Modi said the central government had more than doubled the fund allocation to Odisha but its effects were not visible on the ground.
“Before the BJP government came to power in the Centre, the Odisha government got around Rs82,000 crore in five years. In our government, we increased it to Rs2lakh crore. But can you see the impact of this money on the ground? Where is this money going?”
“In recent times, so many scams have surfaced in Odisha... How will development happen in such a situation? So the time has come for a big change in Odisha,” he said.
Related Story