Congress destroyed country to save a dynasty: Modi
Vijayapura (Karnataka), May 8 : Accusing the Congress of destroying the country to promote a dynasty, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and said the party was now getting destroyed while trying to save that dynasty (Nehru-Gandhi family).
"One thing is clear -- the Congress destroyed the nation in promoting a dynasty. Today, to save that dynasty, the Congress is getting destroyed," he said at a rally here.
Modi also targeted the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the poll-bound state, saying there was "not even a single Minister who has not faced allegations of corruption".
The Prime Minister accused the Congress of trying to gain votes by seeking to divide communities.
He claimed that the Congress was spreading lies on the issue of women's security and said that a daughter is a daughter, irrespective of the community she belongs to.
"Whether a daughter is of a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Christian, a daughter is a daughter. Whichever community or religion she belongs to, a daughter should be respected or not? She should get security or not?" he asked.
The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of not supporting the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha.
"I am surprised. The Congress steeped in vote bank politics is giving lectures and, on the other hand, Muslim women are asked to leave houses after triple talaq. We bought a bill on triple talaq. The Congress did not allow it to be passed in Parliament," he said.
Referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, he said the opposition party was in such a situation that their leaders did not have faith in their 'naamdar' (dynasty) leader.
In an apparent reference to United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's rally at Vijayapura during the day, he said that Congress leaders were now saying that if she canvasses in the state, it can at least save the security deposits of Congress candidates.
Modi said he had on Monday watched an interview of a Congress leader who said that the son (Congress President Rahul Gandhi) "will not be able to do anything".
"If you bring the mother (Sonia) to Karnataka and she does something, then maybe the deposits can be saved. This is what Congress leaders have started speaking," Modi said.
Modi referred to Vijayapura as the birth place of Lord Basaveshwara, a 12th century social reformer and philosopher who founded the Lingayat religious tradition, and targeted the Siddaramaiah government over its move to recommend minority community status for the Lingayats in the southern state.
He said Lord Basaveshwara's message was against divisions of caste and community but the state government had got into a habit of working against his message and of forgetting his words.
"Bhagwan Basaveshwara conveyed that everyone should be taken along. This Congress government is dividing communities, castes, voters... divide and rule, pit one against the other. They want to save their chair. But Congress leaders do not know this is the land of Bhagwan Basaveshwara. It is not going to be divided into communities and will not accept division among brothers. They will remove the Congress but will not allow (spread of) the poison of casteism," Modi said.
Without taking names, Modi targeted state Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil and said: "Here, everyone knows about how contracts are awarded, how bundles of notes were found in the almirahs of contractors."
He said Bharatiya Janata Party's philosophy was inspired by the teachings of saints of Karnataka and it was seeking votes in the name of development.
Modi said lakhs of people in Karnataka had benefited from his government's schemes on cooking gas connections and electricity connections.
The Prime Minister announced steps for the benefit of local farmers, including a food processing unit and agri-horticultural unit, and Rs 2-lakh insurance for landless labourers.
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BJP writes to EC about 'non-deployment' of central forces to avert clash
Kolkata (PTI): The BJP on Sunday wrote to the Election Commission alleging that its workers were not given security and came under attack while travelling to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground on March 14 and sought action over the alleged non-deployment of central forces by police.
In a letter to the poll panel, BJP leader Shishir Bajoria claimed that buses carrying party workers to the rally were targeted with bricks in the Girish Park area of north Kolkata, leaving several activists injured, some of whom were hospitalised.
Trouble broke out in the area when BJP activists objected to the putting up of flexes which read 'Boycott BJP', before the house of state minister Shashi Panja and tore down the flexes. Heavy brick batting followed as both sides regrouped along Central Avenue, and the window panes on the ground-floor room of Panja's residence were damaged in stone pelting.
The minister claimed she and several of her party members were injured in the brickbatting by rally-bound BJP supporters.
In the letter, the BJP alleged that despite a substantial deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) ahead of the elections, the forces were not present at the site of the disturbance to ensure the safety of its workers and leaders.
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Putting the onus on TMC for the violence, the letter said, "A large number of buses bringing BJP 'karyakartas' to attend the rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Brigade Parade Ground were subjected to large-scale brick-batting and violence, resulting in several BJP leaders sustaining injuries, many of whom had to be hospitalised."
Attaching purported photos and videos of the clash to back up their claims of TMC instigation, the letter said: "What was particularly of grave concern was that despite a big deployment of CAPF well before the polls, their complete absence at the spot during the disturbance, or in any part of the city of Kolkata."
"We would like to put on record that the presence of Kolkata Police at the spot of disturbance establishes the fact that they had an advance intelligence report of possible violence and yet kept the CAPF out," the BJP leader said in the letter to the CEC Gyanesh Kumar, and Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal.
"Given the seriousness of the incident and the injuries sustained by several of our karyakarta, it raises concerns among citizens regarding the effective deployment of CAPF for preventing violence, and ensuring a free and fair electoral environment," the letter said.
"We request your good office to kindly take the strongest possible action against those who were responsible for this non-deployment of CAPF, resulting in this incident and ensure that in future deployment is carried out in a manner that truly serves its intended purpose of area domination, confidence building, and timely intervention wherever law and order situations arises from now till the elections are over," the letter said.
The BJP also reminded the commission that a party delegation had earlier met the full bench of the poll body on March 9 and raised concerns that CAPF personnel were being deployed for route marches in peaceful areas and highways instead of in locations requiring voter confidence-building measures.
At least eight persons, including a police officer, were injured in brickbatting, which broke out half an hour before the arrival of the Prime Minister at the Brigade Rally. The clash continued for about an hour as both sides fought a pitched battle on the road and nearby by-lanes before reinforcements brought the situation under control.
