Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday ripped into the Congress at a poll rally in UP’s Amethi, warning voters in the Congress stronghold that their ‘family members… are cursing your intellect’ after being ousted from the seat in the 2014 general election.
“The people of Amethi already know that (their) family members (a reference to the Congress) do not belong to anyone. You have been loyal to these families for a very long time. But the moment you voted them away, they started cursing your intellect by going to Kerala,” he said.
In a major shock Amethi voted for the BJP’s Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha election – the first time since 1998 that the Congress failed to win the seat. Rahul Gandhi had won the previous three times.
The five Assembly seats in the Amethi constituency will vote in the fifth phase of UP polls on Feb 27.
The Kerala reference was an echo of a controversial comment by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who declared that if the Bharatiya Janata Party is not voted back to power this time, UP could become like Kerala and Bengal.
The Prime Minister also took a swipe at the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for being ‘far away’ from ground reality. He said, “Parivarvaadi parties want to come to authority to increase their family’s power and rule over you like kings. BJP’s power isn’t bahubali/mafia, but UP public.”
The Prime Minister also sneered at the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (which many see as the biggest challenge to the BJP), saying that ‘family politics’ practised by them is hurting the country.
“In family politics, the head of party is from the family and all important posts are held by people of the same family. These families are hogging all the important posts within the government,” he said.
“Decisions taken by other political parties are solely based on the vote bank. Even if this decision is against the interest of the country, these leaders do not hesitate in taking that decision,” he added.
Reiterating his party’s commitment to farmers, he said, “Feb 24 is an important day in my life. The ‘Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi’ – a central government scheme – completes 3 years today.”
“People used to spread rumours in 2019 saying Modi will shut this scheme once polls get over. We won after polls & the scheme continued. Amethi farmers received over ₹450 crores,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
Fifth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh will take place on February 27, with 60 seats on offer. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
