Not bothered about Cong leader wanting to kill me: Modi

Harping onto a Karnataka Congress leader’s statement that he should be “shot dead”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that such statements show that “Modi hatred” among Opposition parties would not deter him from doing his duty for the country.

Kicking off the the AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance’s campaign for the Lok Sabha polls here on the outskirts of Chennai, Modi invoked K Kamaraj and M G Ramachandran by asking voters not to choose the “opportunistic” DMK-Congress alliance since the national party had insulted both the late Congress leader and had dismissed the government led by the AIADMK founder.

“Modi hatred among the Opposition is reaching new levels daily. They have a competition (on) who will abuse Modi the most. Someone will abuse me, then someone will mock my poverty, then someone will abuse my family and then someone will abuse my lower caste origins. Now, one Congress leader talks of killing Modi. But I want to tell them that I am not bothered about their threats and abuses. I am here to do my work,” Modi told at the public meeting.

The prime minister was referring to Karnataka Congress leader Belur Gopalakrishna’s controversial statement that he should be shot dead.

The public meeting was attended by the AIADMK leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam, Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Pon Radhakrishnan, PMK leader S Ramadoss, Anbumani Ramadoss and other alliance leaders.

The public meeting organised by the AIADMK lacked the usual enthusiasm and the crowd was very less compared to mega rallies of the party during the era of its charismatic leader J Jayalalithaa.

Devoting most part of his speech to tear into the Congress, Modi said that NDA was the only “strong and united alliance” that gives voices to regional aspirations because the decisions are not taken by a High Command in New Delhi.

“The people of India are our high command. Our track record shows that the NDA is best placed to fulfill regional aspirations. The Congress and their allies can never fulfill regional aspirations because their decisions are guided by the culture of command and Family First,” the prime minister said.

He also accused the Opposition of being “careless” on national security and alleged that they “neither want a strong India nor strong armed forces” because they are guided by politics and selfish interests.

The Congress was the only party that had abused Article 356 again and again, Modi said, adding that state governments were dismissed if the “dynasty” did not like the leader.

“The Congress imposed Article 356 many many times, out of which fifty governments were dismissed by Indira Ji herself. Even the DMK has been the victim of the Congress' hatred for regional aspirations. But for the DMK, opportunism has prevailed over values,” he said.

He also said that the people of Tamil Nadu will never forget how “one family” insulted Kamaraj and how the democratically-elected government of MGR was dismissed by the “imposers of the Emergency.”

He contended that the NDA is futuristic when it comes to creating next-generation infrastructure, comprehensive when it comes to farmers' welfare, fair-minded, when it comes to social justice, uncompromising when it comes to removing corruption, strong when it comes to national security and unforgiving when it comes to responding to terrorism.