RAHA, Assam: Attacking the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the country has suffered due to ‘backseat driving’ and ‘remote control’ and warned people of Assam against an unstable government in the state.
Addressing a poll meeting here, he asked the people to elect a BJP-led government with absolute majority and defeat the forces which were spreading rumors to create political instability in Assam and stop the state from embarking on the path of development.
Targeting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement that his government believed in more work than mere talk, Modi said, “What he said was true and the scams of his period have started speaking now.”
“Manmohanji ne kahan ki zubaan se zyada kaam bolta hain aur ab toh aapka kaam bolne laga hain. Yeh toh saach hain ki paap bolte hain aur ab toh parche khulne lage hain aur sab pareshan hain (Manmohanji had said that work speaks more than words and now their work has started speaking. It is true that sins do speak, now the results of their misdeeds are out and all are disturbed),” he said.
In an apparent dig at Singh, Modi said the nation has suffered enough from ‘backseat driving’ and asked people not to hand over the ‘remote control’ into anyone’s hands.
“There are some people who are getting greedy that they will take advantage of a hung assembly and claiming they will run business. Should this be allowed?
“The country has suffered enough from this backseat driving. Should Assam be allowed to be destroyed through this backseat driving? They are not interested in the country.
Don’t give the remote control into anyone’s hands,” he said.
BJP had repeatedly alleged that the previous Manmohan Singh Government was being run by “remote control” and that there were “two power centers” with Congress President Sonia Gandhi taking all important decisions.
During UPA-I, it had alleged that the Left which was providing crucial outside support was indulging in backseat driving.
Two persons had been convicted in the coal scam and those involved in other scams like 2G during UPA rule would not be spared, Modi said.
Hitting out at Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, he said governance has been hit due to corruption and nepotism.
“We are concerned about the sons and daughters of Assam, not the sons and daughters of a select few,” he said, taking a dig at Gogoi, whom he accused of being busy only in “settling” his son.
“Three days are left (for polls) and there will people trying to spread lies and rumors. It is your task to counter them by going to every household and not be misled by them. If by chance in Assam an unstable government is formed, forces trying to break the country will try to benefit.”
Raising the Saradha scam issue for the first time in Assam poll campaign, the Prime Minister said that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana had been launched to ensure that such fraud did not take place in future.
“The poor went to chit funds because they did not have access to the banks. It was my government that has stopped them from going to chit funds by allowing them to open zero-balance bank accounts under the PM Jan Dhan Yojana,” Modi told the election rally. . Modi lamented that the state which was one of top five states after independence figured among the last four states today after 15 years of “misrule” by Congress.
“In last 15 years, Assam has achieved only a third of what other states in India achieved in every field,” he lamented, expressing confidence that people of Assam will vote in large numbers in the second phase and elect the BJP and its allies.
“The poor were looted in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha in the Saradha chit fund scam and though those involved are rotting in jail, the fact remains that the poor lost their money,” he said.
Modi made the statements in the presence of BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was questioned by CBI in connection with the Saradha scam. Sarma was earlier a minister in Tarun Gogoi government.
The Prime Minister said just as India’s image the world has been enhanced ever since a government with absolute majority was elected in the country, the people of the state should also elect a government of BJP and its allies in Assam with absolute majority.
“I have only one mantra for making A for Assam. That is development, fast-development and all-round-development,” he said, adding that he will return the affection with record development in the state.–PTI
