New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that Gujarat’s social fabric “cannot be vitiated on caste or sectoral lines for electoral benefit”. Mr Modi, who interacted with the BJP’s women workers in Gujarat through the NaMo app, also hailed the party’s stunning performance in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls and said it has “brought about a wave of positivity and excitement across the country”. He will address a spate of rallies across Gujarat on Sunday and Monday, in a flurry of campaigning in the state.
Mr Modi said the UP electorate had rejected the “negative impression” and “atmosphere of pessimism” created by “certain elements” during the Assembly as well as civic polls and said that “similar winds of a rejection of negativity are also blowing over Gujarat”. Gujarat goes to the polls on December 9 and 14 and the results will be out on December 18.
Mr Modi, who has so far addressed eight election rallies in his home state of Gujarat, interacted with 7,500 “brave BJP women workers” through the NaMo app on Friday. While remembering how the women of Gujarat used to fast for his safety and well-being,
Mr Modi addressed several issues, including Kutch’s handicrafts to increasing women’s voting percentage. Mr Modi is scheduled to address seven more rallies on December 3 and 4 in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, which will go to the polls in the first phase.
While the PM will address rallies in Bharuch, Surendranagar and Rajkot on December 3, he will visit Ahmedabad in the evening to attend a function at Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Vishwavidya Pratisthanam (SGVP). On December 4, Mr Modi will address rallies in Dharampur in Valsad, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar.
During his interaction with the women cadre, Mr Modi hailed the Indian voter as being “very mature” and said they have “immense faith in democracy”. He further said that “this faith has shown through during elections even at the most difficult times in the nation’s history”. The PM said the Indian voter “can rise above all negative influences such as casteism and ilicit money power”.
Referring to the UP Assembly polls held earlier in 2017 when the BJP had its government after 15 years in the state and the civic polls whose results were declared on Friday, Mr Modi said both results proved “beyond doubt that the electorate has rejected the negativity created over bold structural reforms such as demonetisation and GST”and said “similar winds of a rejection of negativity are also blowing over Gujarat”.
While asserting that Gujarat’s social fabric cannot be vitiated on caste or sectoral lines for electoral benefit, Mr Modi also said the “recent favourable assessments by rating agencies, and the GDP numbers that were announced yesterday, bring good tidings on the economic front”.
