In poll pitch from LS, PM slams anti-BJP front, mocks Rahul

New Delhi: Getting into the election mode, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his last major speech in Parliament before parliamentary polls mocked the Opposition parties’ attempts to forge an anti-BJP coalition as “mahamilawat” (grand adulteration),  targeted the Opposition Congress for dynasty politics and presented a gloweing report card of his government.

Speaking from the floor of the Lok Sabha in his reply to the Motion of Thanks, Mr Modi on Thursday showcased his government’s achievements on job creation, anti-corruption fight, electrification of villages, distribution of free cooking gas, strengthening of armed forces, and reiterated his government’s focus on addressing farm distress.

While targeting the Congress, he said that his slogan of “Congress-mukt bharat” (Congress-free India) was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi who wanted that the Congress should be disbanded after Independence.  

“Mahatma Gandhi had wished disbanding of  Congress. Congress-mukt Bharat is not my slogan, Gandhiji wanted it,” he said.

Attacking the main Opposition party in his 100-minute speech, the Prime Minister said, “There are two periods in time as far as India is concerned — BC and AD. BC stands for ‘Before Congress’, when nothing happened, and AD for ‘After Dynasty’, when everything happened.” This drew cheers and desk thumping from BJP MPs.

Mr Modi in his speech claimed that his 55-month-old government “achieved more, much more than what Congress had achieved since 1947”.

Reaching out to voters to give the NDA a clear mandate once again, Mr Modi said, “In 2014, for the first time in 30 years, the people gave India its first full majority government. Now the mahamilawat (grand adulteration) is about to come”.

Only a party with brute majority “can work for the welfare of the nation” and not a “mahamilawat government,” he said, referring to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Kolkata rally last month where 26 Opposition parties had shared the dais to form an anti-BJP front.

Hitting out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for his allegations on the Rafale fighter jet deal, Mr Modi said the Congress did not wish to see the country’s armed forces become strong.

The Prime Minister also mocked Mr Gandhi’s favourite slogan with a tweak of a well-known Hindi proverb. “The thief is scolding the chowkidar (watchman),” he said. He questioned whether the Congress wants to delay the Rafale deal as part of bidding for some other jet supplier.

“I am levelling a serious allegation. I want to say it on the floor of Parliament that the Indian National Congress doesn’t want our armed forces to be strong... You want the Rafale deal to be cancelled. On whose behest? For which company?”

As he focussed mainly on targeting the Congress Mr Modi yet again played the nationalist card by highlighting the Army’s “surgical strikes”.

“You (Congress) had left Army handicapped; it was not in a position to carry out surgical strikes,” he claimed.

Talking about his so-called jihad against corruption, Mr Modi said, “Desh ko lootnewalon ko Modi dara kar rahega (The corrupt will always be scared of Modi).”

“Corrupt people are crying on Twitter that their wealth is being taken away. You (Congress) let them loot, we are making laws to bring that wealth back,” he said.

Countering the Congress’ allegation of threat to institutions under the NDA rule, Mr Modi blamed the Congress for violating democratic norms and dismissing elected governments.

“The Congress imposed Emergency, but they say Modi is destroying institutions. Congress insults Army, calls the Army chief a ‘goonda’ but they say Modi is destroying institutions,” the Prime Minister said in his reply.

The Congress misused Article 356 to dismiss state governments several times. Indira Gandhi herself dismissed state governments 50 times, Mr Modi said.

Unleashing his party’s aggressive nationalism mantra, Mr Modi rolled his eyes, flailed his arms and tried to look anguished and angry as he said, “In hating Modi, the Opposition has begun to hate the nation. That is why their leaders go to London and do press conferences to show India in bad light.”

He was referring to the presence of Congress leader Kapil Sibal at a London EVM hackathon organised by Syed Shuja, a US-based cyber “expert”, to allege that the 2014 general elections in India were rigged.

Rejecting allegations of rising unemployment, Mr Modi said crores of new jobs have been created in formal and unorganised sectors, including transport, hotels and infrastructure. He also cited data from provident fund and National Pension System (NPS), income-tax filings and sale of vehicles among others.

As for inflation and price rise, Mr Modi said, “Price rise and Congress are a team. When Congress comes, so does price-rise. The NDA government has worked to keep prices under check.”

He also blamed the Congress for bad loans. “The ‘phone banking’ of the UPA did wonders for friends of their (Congress) leaders. Due to such favouritism, our banking system witnessed many problems,” he said.

He hailed his government’s steps to check wrongdoings under the garb of NGO. “Due to transparency brought by NDA govt in foreign funding for NGOs, about 20,000 such organisations had to close down. Why was such money allowed to come in without accountability?” he asked.