Didn't allow any wrongdoing in 8 years, says PM Modi; seeks more blessing from people of Gujarat

Counting his government's "achievements" of the last eight years and promising to ensure 100% delivery of welfare schemes to the rightful beneficiaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday while inaugurating a multi-speciality hospital in Rajkot, said that in the last eight years he didn't allow any "wrongdoing that would have made a citizen of this country hang their heads in shame."

In what seemed like an election speech to woo voters, especially from the Patidar community of Saurashtra region where the BJP faced a hard time countering Congress in the 2017 Assembly polls, the PM invoked Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel while appealing for more "blessings" to continue "serving the motherland."

Saturday was Modi's third visit to his home state in three months and has spent almost six days holding roadshows, addressing public gatherings, and inaugurating developmental works in central and north Gujarat, Saurashtra among other regions, largely covering tribal, OBC and Patidar communities, who constitute the largest vote-banks.

"The BJP led NDA government is completing eight years in the service of the nation. Eight years ago you had sent me off, but your love has kept growing...It is your virtue and the virtue of this soil, land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar (Vallabhbhai Patel) that in the past eight years we haven't allowed or done any wrongdoing due to which you or any citizen of this country would hang their heads in shame," Modi said while addressing the large crowd after inaugurating Matushri KDP Multispeciality Hospital at Atkot in Rajkot.

The hospital has been constructed by Shree Patel Seva Samaj, a public trust.

Taking on the Opposition Congress, the PM claimed that before 2014, developmental projects of Gujarat used to be rejected by the central government since all they could see was "Modi" in them.

He said, "So much indifference was there that these people stopped mother Narmada (river). We had to sit in protest to build Sardar Sarovar Dam. I hope you all remember that. Today, Narmada water has reached Saurashtra and Kutch. After Sardar Sarovar Dam, the tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the biggest statue (Statue of Unity) in the whole world, is also getting popular in the world," Modi said while speaking in Gujarati.

The prime minister also praised his government and cited data claiming that over the last eight years 3 crore pucca houses have been constructed for the poor, besides 10 crore families have been freed from open defecation, freedom from smoke to 9 crore women, tap water to 6 crore families, among others. He also added, "This is not just the data but proof of our commitment to safeguard the dignity of the poor."