Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday mocked Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for “handing over the remote control” of the party to the Congress as he took poll battle to Mumbai with less than a week left for voting in Maharashtra.
Addressing three rallies during the day in support of Mahayuti candidates as canvassing entered its last phase, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s star campaigner reiterated his challenge to the Congress to praise Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, a strong votary of Hindutva and saffron alliance in Maharashtra.
He said Mumbai, where the Shiv Sena was founded in 1966 and from where the party drew its political strength, is a city of self-respect.
“Mumbai is a city of self-respect, but a party in the Maha Vikas Aghadi has handed over its 'remote control' to those who insulted Balasaheb Thackeray,” Modi remarked in the rally at Dadar's Shivaji Park, an iconic venue closely associated with the rise and expansion of the undivided Shiv Sena.
“That is why I challenged them to get the Congress to praise Balasaheb Thackeray. Till date these people have not been able to get the Congress and the ‘Prince’ (a reference to MP Rahul Gandhi) of the Congress to praise Balasaheb,” Modi noted.
Uddhav Thackeray snapped ties with the BJP in 2019 and joined forces with the Congress and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party, both his ideological and political rivals till then. The Shiv Sena suffered a split in June 2022 when its leader Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP and became chief minister.
Stepping up his attack on the Congress, the BJP stalwart dubbed it as a party desperate for power.
Raising the issue of terror attacks in a city which saw a three-day mayhem in November 2008, Modi maintained such strikes, which were common under the Congress regime, have now become a thing of the past.
“Everywhere people were scared of unclaimed objects. But now all this has stopped. Terror masters now know that if they do anything against India, Modi won't spare them,” he said.
At his second rally at Kharghar in Panvel taluka of adjoining Raigad district, around 60 km from Mumbai, the PM remarked the Congress gave the 'Garibi Hatao' (eradicate poverty) slogan, but instead looted the poor.
“If the poor are benefiting, you feel happy, but the Congress doesn't feel happy over this. The Congress is far ahead when it comes to vote bank politics, but is the enemy of the poor,” Modi said.
The Grand Old Party, in power for several decades after independence, has always worked with the agenda of keeping the poor in poverty, the PM averred.
“Generation after generation these people kept giving the false slogan of eradicating poverty. In the name of eradicating poverty, the Congress looted the poor,” he said.
The PM asserted his government, since 2014, has brought 25 crore people out of poverty.
Modi also spoke of his love for Maharashtra, the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
“When the BJP chose me as the PM candidate in 2013, I went to Raigad fort and sought the blessings of Shivaji Maharaj to work for the country. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj gave us the oath of swaraj (self-rule). We have to carry forward the resolution of suraj (good governance) along with swaraj to build a developed India,” he told the gathering.
Modi said a Congress leader has promised to provide subsidised cooking gas cylinder even to infiltrators if the INDIA bloc comes to power in Jharkhand, which is also facing polls.
“Today, a Congress leader has said in Jharkhand that we will give cheap gas cylinders to Hindus and Muslims as well as infiltrators like Rohingyas and Bangladeshis. Should such people who praise the infiltrators get any opportunity anywhere?” he asked.
Modi asked the crowd at the rally to say 'ek hai toh safe hai' (we are safe if we are united) so that those seeking to divide society lose their sleep.
At his first election meeting of the day at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in central Maharashtra, the PM alleged the Congress and its allies are devising a scheme to have a separate Constitution for Kashmir, and making all efforts for restoration of Article 370.
“Will the people of Maharashtra support the Congress and its allies who speak the language of Pakistan?” Modi asked the gathering.
“The Congress and its colleagues have passed a resolution (in J&K assembly) to restore Article 370. When we made Kashmir free from Article 370, the Congress opposed this in Parliament and court. Now, they are again hatching a scheme to restore Article 370 and have a separate Constitution in Kashmir,” Modi said.
Kashmir is an integral part of India and every citizen wants that there should be only Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution in the Union territory, the PM noted.
Modi remarked that the Congress is not comfortable with the fact that an OBC community member has become the prime minister. “The Congress used to say reservations were against the country. It considered reservations were against merit. The mentality and agenda of the Congress remains unchanged. Therefore, they can't come to terms with the fact that someone from OBC has been the PM for the last 10 years,” he said.
“The ‘Prince’ of Congress, while he is abroad, openly claims that his party will scrap reservations. To further their agenda, the Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi are conspiring to divide SCs, STs and OBCs into small castes,” he said.
Maharashtra will vote on November 20 to elect a new 288-member assembly, while counting will take place three days later.
