Oppn soft on terror because of their vote bank politics: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Samajwadi Party and other opposition parties were soft on terror, adding that the SP had withdrawn cases against terrorists responsible for 14 incidents in the state when they took over power in 2012.

Addressing election rallies in Hardoi and Unnao, which are going to polls in the fourth phase on February 23, the prime minister said: “Our country has been facing terrorism of jihadi organisations for the past several decades. When a terror attack takes place, it hurts the poor and the middle class the most. Tourism and trade get affected. However, opposition parties are soft on terror because of their vote bank politics. The SP withdrew cases against terrorists responsible for 14 attacks in UP, some of whom were given capital punishment and life imprisonment by courts later on. They withdrew cases against those responsible for the attack on Sankat Mochan temple in Kashi and Lucknow court. Congress leaders called a terrorist like Osama bin Laden ‘Osamaji’ and shed tears on the killing of a terrorist in Batla House encounter. And we have built the National War Memorial and National Police Memorial.”

Modi said that during their (opposition) governments, a series of blasts took place in Delhi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad etc, adding that when he saw bloodshed of innocent people in Ahmedabad, he took the pledge to give the culprits a lesson and recently the court awarded them death sentence.

The prime minister also cautioned voters against the venom of casteism being spread by opposition parties, adding that they do not belong to any caste or community and all that matters to them is their families’ development rather than the development of the state and its people.

“It’s time to give a fitting reply through your votes to those who played havoc with the state by giving patronage to mafia and gangsters; who withdrew cases against terrorists responsible for killings of innocent people for their vote bank politics; and those who spread rumours against Covid vaccines that protected people’s lives during the pandemic,” the prime minister said.

Hitting out at Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav over one of the videos in which he is seen insulting policemen, and also Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi who clapped while the Punjab chief minister was insulting people of UP, Modi said that their politics revolved around their mafia friends and families respectively and they had nothing to do with development and the welfare of people.

Modi said: “SP’s chief ministerial candidate himself is unsafe on his seat. That’s why he had to call his father, who had a humiliating ouster from the party, to campaign for him.”

He added: “The people of UP are saying, ‘Jo suraksha laye hain, jo samman laye hain, hum unko layenge’ and ‘Aayenge to Yogiji hi’. The people of UP will celebrate Holi twice this year, first on March 10 when the Bharatiya Janata Party gets a thumping majority in the assembly polls.”

He said that the opposition parties were not concerned about the welfare of poor people, farmer’s uplift, safety and security of girls and women and employment of the youth, adding that they were best at making only false promises to people.

The prime minister remarked: “When they were in power, they could never ensure adequate supply of electricity. In fact, during the previous government, power cuts were normal and power supply was news in UP. When a transformer got burnt down in an area, it remained without power for months. So, they can never give you electricity, but they can give you electric shocks.”

“They could hardly give houses to the poor and built only 34,000 toilets while the Yogi Adityanath led government has built 70,000 houses and five lakh toilets in Hardoi alone in the last five years. A total of 23 lakh people have got property cards in UP under the double engine government of Uttar Pradesh,” he pointed out.

Modi said LPG cylinders were being provided to women under Ujjwala scheme whereas poor people were being benefited from Ayushman Bharat with health insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh. He said a total of 5.5 crore people had got tap water under Jal Jeevan Mission in the country.

“The Yogi government has also made record purchases of wheat from farmers and record payments to sugarcane farmers, which SP and BSP could never do. Besides, farmers are getting money transferred to their accounts under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. I believe that small farmers can play a big role in alleviating poverty in villages. The previous government had shut down 21 sugar mills in UP,” he said.

Referring to a video of an old woman BJP supporter circulating on social media, Modi said that she openly said that she could not cheat a party that was giving her ration.

Modi said that UP was witnessing rapid development under the double engine government in terms of infrastructure, education, industry while the benefits of development reached the poor. “Medical colleges and expressways are being built and development activity will gain momentum when the BJP government comes back in UP under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath,” he added.

“During SP government ‘katta and satta’ were given full freedom to operate. Mothers were concerned about their daughters’ safety. Traders were scared of extortionists. Dynasts protected criminals. But now under the Yogi government, mafia and criminals do not want bails and prefer to stay in jails,” the prime minister said.