After condemning the series of deadly bomb attacks on Sri Lankan churches and luxury hotels yesterday that killed more than 200 people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told voters that they needed to elect him to a second term as only he can beat the “terrorists” threatening India.
“Should terrorism be finished or not?,” he told an election rally in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.
“Who can do this? Can you think of any name aside from Modi? Can anybody else do this?”
Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have promoted the government’s national security record as a vote winner in India’s staggered general election that began on April 11 and will end on May 19.
Votes will be counted on May 23.
In particular, Modi’s muscular stance against Pakistan had boosted support for the BJP in a tightening election race where opposition parties have focused on weak jobs growth and low farm incomes.
Tensions between India and Pakistan peaked earlier this year after a February suicide bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 paratroopers, and was claimed by a militant group based in Pakistan.
Modi then sent warplanes to Pakistan to bomb a purported training camp, in India’s first such aerial strike since 1971.
Indian officials say that three Indian nationals are known to be among the dead in the Sri Lankan attacks.
No group has yet claimed responsibility.
“In our neighbouring Sri Lanka, terrorists have played a bloody game. They killed innocent people,” Modi said.
At another rally in Rajasthan, Modi again mentioned the attacks in Sri Lanka and said that India, too, continues to suffer because of militants.
Modi also asked if the people wanted a “mazboot sarkar” (strong government) or “majboor sarkar” (weak government), if they wanted an India which can give a befitting reply to Pakistan and if they wanted a government which can make the country strong.
The prime minister also asked new voters to press on the BJP’s symbol “lotus” to build a new India, and referred to his government’s drive against poverty, illiteracy, black money, corruption and disease.
Listing flagship schemes like the PM Ujjawala Yojana, the Saubhagya Yojana, the Jan-Dhan scheme, the Mudra Yojana, and the toilet construction scheme, Modi said: “We started many ambitious projects and ensured they reached their end point, unlike the former government which did not know how to finish projects successfully.”
Attacking the Congress, Modi said had that party been honest, it could have done much more but it only did “vote bank politics” and continued to lie to people and cheat them.
As he asked if farmers’ loans have been waived in ten days, as promised by the Congress government in Rajasthan, the people shouted ‘no’ and shook their heads in denial.
“This is the lie being spread all across Rajasthan,” Modi added.
“Since the last seven decades, they have been lying to people. They have just three facts to their credit — they stand for a ‘namdaar’ family (dynasty), bhrashtachar (corruption) and jhoote wadon ki bharmaar (slew of promises),” he said.
Modi promised that his next government, if he is voted back, will set up a ‘Jal Shakti Mantralaya’ to work for smooth supply of water in areas suffering scanty water supply.
“In the next five years we will work on water; the Jal Shakti ministry will be coming up which will ensure that rainwater reaches dry areas via new techniques,” he said.
Earlier addressing another election rally in Patan in north Gujarat, the prime minister asserted that the country had made up its mind to bring him back to power but said the victory will have little meaning if Gujarat did not repeat the 26-out-of-26 performance of 2014.
Stating that it was the responsibility of Gujarat “to protect your son”, Modi said that loss of even one seat from his home state would invite taunts and questions from the media.
The BJP had bagged all 26 seats from the state in 2014.
“They will not talk about the victory at the national level but will question me what went wrong in Gujarat,” he said, delivering his last election speech in his home state where campaigning ended yesterday evening.
Raising the son-of-the-soil pitch, Modi asked: “Isn’t it your responsibility to protect your son? Will you not take up this responsibility?” The crowds replied in the affirmative when he asked, “If you have a right over me, don’t I have a right over you?” The prime minister exhorted the people to pick BJP candidates, stating that “every vote to them is a direct vote for me”.
Modi said he had been asked by the party not to come to Gujarat and focus energies on the entire nation, “but I have come here so that I can meet you all.”
He added he had come to seek “the blessings of the elders like we do on important occasions. Bestow such blessings on me that the country does not get an opportunity to taunt me later.”
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