Dongargarh: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday attacked Rahul Gandhi, saying instead of demanding an account of work done by Narendra Modi government in the last four years, the Congress president should answer why development did not reach the masses during the “six-decade rule of his family”. Addressing a rally at Kurrubhat village, Shah set a target of winning 65 of total 90 seats for the BJP in the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly polls and said the Opposition will not be able to defeat the BJP as it is as difficult as “lifting the leg of Angad”.
Angad, the son of monkey king Bali, is a mythological character from Ramayana. He had challenged those in demon king Ravana’s court to lift his leg, but none had succeeded. Shah was speaking after flagging off the second phase of pre-electoral drive of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh to reach out to voters from Kurrubhat village near Dongargarh in Rajnandgaon district. The yatra was renamed in the memory of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. While the first phase of the yatra had covered 5,000 kms across 55 Assembly constituencies, the second phase is expected to cover about 6,000 kms. Shah, who was addressing the rally at Pragyagiri ground in Kurrubhat village, claimed Rahul Gandhi had no right to question the Modi government and slammed the performance of previous Congress governments.
“His (Gandhi) government was in power for 60 years but why electricity did not reach villages…. Why farmers did not get better MSP…. Why benefits of other welfare schemes did not reach masses. “People of the country want to know the account of 60 years of rule from you,” the BJP chief said. “We don’t need to answer you. You don’t have the right to ask this question,” he said. Before the launch of the mass outreach campaign, Shah and Singh paid obeisance at Maa Bamleshwari temple in Dongargarh. Shah also slammed Rahul Gandhi for criticising Raman Singh over the purchase of smart phones for the Sanchar Kranti Scheme (SKY) in Chhattisgarh. SKY, launched in July this year, is expected to benefit 45 lakh women belonging to poor families and five lakh college students who will be given smartphones.
Shah said, “I was listening to speech of ‘Shehzada’ (prince) of the Congress. He was asking Modiji’s account of the work done during the last four years. Why was he even asking this question?” “The people of the country wanted to know from Rahul the account of work done during your four-generation rule,” he said. Referring to the alleged coal allocation scam that had surfaced under the previous Congress-led UPA government, Shah said the Congress is a “coal mine thief which committed irregularities in the coal block allocations”. “Rahul baba during his recent visit to Chhattisgarh, was asking why the Raman Singh government did not purchase mobile phones from BHEL under the SKY scheme. BHEL does not manufacture phones and Rahul does not even know that and he is asking for the hisab (account),” he said. Recalling the contribution of Vajpayee in the formation of Chhattisgarh, Shah said, “Atal ji had founded Chhattisgarh state and Raman Singh has developed it as per his dreams”.
The state was formed on November 1, 2000. Assembly polls are slated to be held in Chhattisgarh along with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram later this year. Shah also praised Raman Singh for naming the upcoming new state capital of Chhattisgarh as “Atal Nagar”. He appealed to people to elect the Singh government for the fourth term in upcoming polls for building “new Chhattisgarh by 2025”. “Chhattisgarh was considered as a ‘Bimaru’ state before the BJP came to power (15 years ago). But now it is counted among the developed states,” the BJP chief said. “The BJP has continued its winning spree in various states under the leadership of Narendra Modi who has been working to safeguard the country. Raman Singh has developed Chhattisgarh in a similar manner,” he said.
Shah said Modi as Prime Minister gave a befitting reply to Pakistan by ordering surgical strikes across the LoC after the Uri attack (in 2016). “That time it was neither the rule of the Congress nor Manmohan Singh was the prime minister. It was Narendra Modi who took the decision (of surgical strike),” he said, adding that ceasefire violations by Pakistan were rampant before the BJP took over.
In his address, Raman Singh said his government had prepared a draft of the Atal Vision Document for the creation of New Chhattisgarh by 2025. “We have vowed to double the GSDP (gross state domestic product) of Chhattisgarh when it would be celebrating its silver jubilee in 2025. We want to double the income of farmers. It is the right of every citizen to access quality medical facilities and internet connection,” the chief minister said. He said the Atal Memorial will be constructed at Atal Nagar on a five-acre plot. Soil for the memorial will be collected from every village and religious place in Chhattisgarh. After offering prayers at Maa Bamleshwari temple, Shah collected soil from the site.
