For PM Modi, Wardha glass was half-full

For PM Modi, Wardha glass was half-full

FPJ Political BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 12:23 AM IST
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Mumbai: For PM Narendra Modi, the ‘glass’ was less than half full on Monday at Wardha — there was a poor response to the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance’s first poll campaign rally, launched by the PM on Monday. The ‘Swavlambi’ ground, where the rally was held, was more than half-empty. Clearly, the organisers had failed to draw in the crowds.

This is a far cry from the scene witnessed at the same venue five years ago in the month of April, when the spectacular opening rally in Wardha set the electoral ball rolling for Modi and, as a result, the BJP-Sena alliance bagged all the 10 seats in Vidarbha.

On Monday, however, the poor turnout was reflected in Modi’s body language. The opposition, naturally had a field day. Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant observed that people had fooled Modi on April 1. The Mahayuti (BJP’s alliance with Sena, RPI and other regional parties) kicked off its poll campaign from Wardha, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, which BJP considers a lucky spot.

“That is why even though the BJP is not fielding a candidate from the Wardha LS constituency, the party has chosen Wardha to begin its poll campaign,” said the BJP functionary. Sena is fielding its candidate from Wardha. Even though the ground was more than half-empty, Modi claimed otherwise in his speech and said, “I know the ground is insufficient to accommodate all of you.”

“How can people trust Modi, who was lying during his speech, claiming the ground was packed with people. It only goes to show the way in which the wind is blowing in Vidarbha and Maharashtra,” said Sawant. Dhananjay Munde, leader of opposition in the legislative council claimed the poor public turnout may have rattled Modi and the BJP leaders.

“This might be the reason Modi targeted the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in his speech,” said Munde and warned that Pawar would throw out the BJP alliance government. Meanwhile, Modi has come up with yet another retort to the Congress for its criticism of his use of the word ‘chowkidar’ to describe himself. Referring to comments calling him the ‘chowkidar of toilets’, Modi said, for him, they were ‘ornaments’.

Further, he claimed, this ridicule only showed the casteist mentality of Congress leaders and disrespect to people who had spent their entire life cleaning toilets. “If I am being named ‘chowkidar of toilets’ that means I am the chowkidar of the pride of women who never had access to toilets and had to go in the open,” he said.

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