PM Modi says Congress ran durbar of mama Michel'

Baripada (Odisha)/Patna: A day after the government repulsed a high-pitched Congress tirade on Rafale jet deal in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a multi-pronged attack on the party and its president Rahul Gandhi accusing them of plotting with “thieves” to dislodge an honest “chowkidar” like him, compromising national security by working at the behest of alleged middlemen like Christian Michel and misleading farmers on loan waivers by treating them merely as  vote bank.

“I cannot understand whether the Congress was running a government or the ‘durbar’ of its own (Christian) Michel ‘mama’,” Mr Modi said at a BJP rally in Odisha’s Baripada while referring to Mr Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam who was recently brought to India from Dubai.

On his second visit in less than a fortnight to Odisha, where Assembly elections are also slated to be held along with Lok Sabha polls, Mr Modi said, “One letter of the middleman of helicopter scam and the ‘raazdar’ (confidant) of Congress’ secrets Christian Michel has exposed that he had deep friendship with top Congress leaders. He was well aware of every file movement (on chopper deal) in the Prime Minister’s Office.”

“Possibly, the middlemen knew more than even the Prime Minister at that time. He got all information of meetings of the Cabinet committee on security which he used to send abroad,” he said.

Mr Modi alleged that there was a conspiracy to weaken the country’s defence forces during UPA rule between 2004-2014 and the unravelling of truth now is “pricking” Congress leaders.

In an indirect reference to the Congress, he said the “coterie of thieves” is ganging up against him to remove him from power.

“They want to remove the ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) from their path at any cost. Be it the society or factories, thieves always conspire to remove the ‘chowkidar’ to make their task easy. As long as the ‘chowkidar’ remains, they are unable to operate,” said Mr Modi, identifying himself as a “chowkidar” while responding to Rahul Gandhi’s “chowkidar is thief” barb over alleged wrongdoings in the Rafale jet deal.

The Prime Minister, who unveiled projects worth over '4,500 crore for Odisha’s highways and other sectors, congratulated defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for exposing in the Parliament on Friday “those who misled the nation and played with the nation’s security for their own entertainment.”

“I congratulate India’s first woman defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman for exposing those who are toying with country’s national security. These people have alleged links with arrested British national Christian Michel.”

While addressing a rally at Jharkhand’s Palamu, Mr Modi targeted the for “misleading” farmers in the name of loan waiver and treating peasants as merely a “vote bank”.

“We have always treated farmers as annadata (provider of food) and not as vote bank like the previous governments… Earlier, the Congress government had forced farmers to borrow loans and today, they are misleading them with promises of loan waivers,” he said.

Reaching out to farmers amid concerns over agrarian distress, Mr Modi said, “Had I considered farmers as a vote bank, I could have waived their '1 lakh loan... This (loan waiver) could have provided an immediate succour to farmers, but our priority is to provide them with facilities to boost their produce for doubling their income and this will help the farmers for generations,”” he said.

The Prime Minister’s focus on farm loans is linked to Congress governments Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan waiving farm loans ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Mr Modi was in Jharkhand to inaugurate six irrigation projects, including the '2,391.36 crore Mandal dam projects that will provide irrigation in districts of Palamu and Garhwa.