Modi aims to transform India into a developed nation by 2024, but critics say it comes at a cost of drying out those who support him

PTI, Apr 20, 2024, 4:43 PM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday dubbed the Congress a vine which has no roots or branches and sucks dry those who support it, and asked people to be wary of the opposition alliance in realising the goals of ‘Viksit Bharat’ and ‘Viksit Maharashtra’.

Modi, who addressed two election rallies in Maharashtra on Saturday – first in Nanded, followed by Parbhani – also said the Congress has accepted its defeat even before the Lok Sabha poll results are out, and took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, saying that just as he lost from Amethi in 2019, the ”Congress’ sahabzade” will lose the Wayanad parliamentary seat this time.

Both Nanded and Parbhani are located in Marathwada region of the state. At the Parbhani rally, the PM said the 2024 polls were not just to form the government, but to make India developed and self-reliant.

”Congress is a vine which doesn’t have roots or branches. It sucks dry those who lend support to it,” Modi said, hitting out at the opposition.

He accused the Congress of partitioning the country and claimed it did not allow the Constitution to be implemented in Kashmir under the pretext of Article 370.

Hitting out at the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra, he said the Congress and the ”fake Shiv Sena”, a reference to Shiv Sena (UBT), were busy decorating Yakub Memon’s grave. Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was hanged in 2015 ”When the INDI alliance (opposition grouping) was in power, they did not make (people) feel that the Nizam rule had ended, the Razakar mentality was overwhelming here. Their priority was (to decorate) Yakub Memon’s grave,” he said. Modi urged people to be wary of the INDI alliance in realising the goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ and ‘Viksit Maharashtra’.

He said the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were all about making India the third-largest economy in the world.

In the last term of his government, Modi said, people saw the success of Chandrayaan mission and in the next term, 140 crore Indians will witness Gaganyaan’s success.

This is the first election where people are talking about the success of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, from anti-coronavirus vaccine to weapons for the armed forces, he said.

”In only 10 years, the country has traversed a long journey of development,” Modi said.

The PM said when he first contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the talk in the country was about the fear of terror attacks and blasts and the pain of the death of soldiers. ”However, the talk was about surgical strikes in the next five years in 2019,” he said.

Modi said he had lived a life of poverty, understood the pains of the poor and stressed that no poor should go through what he had experienced. At the Nanded rally, he accused the Congress of being a barrier in the path of development and said it it cannot be trusted to work for the country’s progress.

Apparently targeting former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Modi said some INDIA bloc leaders who have been members of the Lok Sabha for several years, have left the Lower House of Parliament and found a seat in the Rajya Sabha as they lack confidence to fight elections.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi, he said, ”The Congress’ sahabzade sees a problem in Wayanad. He is waiting for the voting on April 26, after which he and his gang will look for a safe seat because after Amethi, he will have to leave Wayanad as well.” ”Will any voters waste their vote for such people? They will instead vote for ‘Viksit Bharat’. Congress has been a barrier in the development of farmers, poor and women…Can’t trust that the party will work for the country’s progress,” he said.

Modi referred to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent remarks against Rahul Gandhi, and said, ”Even I can’t make such comments.” Holding Congress-led governments’ flawed policies for the agriculture crisis and farmers’ problems, he said the NDA government was committed to work for their welfare. The PM said he has been fixing the problems created by the erstwhile Congress governments in the last 10 years.

”Now, we have to work even harder,” he said.

”Congress survives on one family. But now that family can’t vote for the party candidate. For the first time, the family will have to vote for a non-Congress candidate in the constituency where they live because they don’t have a candidate,” Modi added.

Describing the INDIA bloc as a grouping of selfish parties that have come together to protect their corrupt practices, he said the alliance has been rejected by voters in the first phase.

The INDI alliance does not have a face to project whom the people see to entrust the country’s future to, he said.

They may claim anything, but the reality is that Congress leaders have accepted defeat even before announcement of poll results, he added. The INDIA bloc parties are contesting the Lok Sabha polls against each other in 25 per cent seats.

”Can you trust such people?” he asked people at the rally.

”After June 4, an all-out fight will break out among the INDIA bloc members. You need to teach them a lesson in elections,” Modi said.