JOIN USPrime Minister Narendra Modi invoked India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his 127th birth anniversary to hit out at the Congress for “ignoring” the plight of the “poverty-ridden” Purvanchal (eastern region of Uttar Pradesh).
Laying the foundation stone for a rail-cum-road bridge over the Ganga in Ghazipur district, a project that was put before Nehru more than five decades ago, Modi said: “Your (Nehru) party (Congress) leaders may be levelling false allegations against me, but I have paid you (Nehru) the real tribute on your birth anniversary... No one else has done so,” Modi said, addressing a meeting at Ghazipur, about 350 km from Lucknow, on Monday.
Modi said in 1962, the then MP from Ghazipur Vishwanath Singh had narrated the plight of the poverty-ridden region in his speech in the House. “The people in this region are so poor that they take out wheat grains from dung,” Modi said, quoting Singh’s speech.
He said that Nehru, who was the then prime minister, had set up a committee to study the problems of the region. “The committee had submitted its report with recommendations. Since then, the state (Uttar Pradesh) gave eight prime ministers to the country. I am the ninth one...nothing was done about the report,” Modi said.
“Aap (Nehru) to garibon aas ko files mein daba kar chale gaye... mai use pura kar raha hoon,” (you left for heavenly abode leaving the report buried under files... I am fulfilling the task). It took more than five decades to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the region,” Modi said.
Referring to the likening of the demonetisation to a financial Emergency, the prime minister said that the Congress government had imposed an Emergency in the country, which lasted for 19 months.
“The entire country had been turned into a prison. The newspapers were acted against...editors were imprisoned,” he said.
“Your (Congress) government had also demonetised chavanni (25 paisa coin). Did I question that? You did according to your capability and we did according to ours,” he said.
DH News Service