Devangere, Karnataka:
Addressing a rally in Davangere in Karnataka, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress over Telangana. Senior leaders including BJP national general secretary and State in-charge Tavarchand Gehlot, Anant Kumar, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and Karnataka BJP president Prahlad Joshi attended the rally.
Following are the highlights of his speech:- Madam Soniaji, Rahulji have no time to go to Andhra, Hyderabad
- Congress has hurt people of Telangana
- But they don't have the time to say a few words to them
- People of Andhra Pradesh are facing problems
- Politics can't be so heartless
- They don't care about sorrows, tribulations
- They don't care about you
- They don't care about your pain
- Should we bother about such a party?
- Should a party like Congress be punished?
- They're not scared of chhoti-moti (small) punishment
- Need only one Mantra: Congress-free India
- I am amazed at how they fool people
- They are capable of claiming anything
- Congress leaders can say anything in front of the people... recently they came to Karnataka and said the party doesn't have a high command.
- The whole country knows that there isn't a shred of democracy within the party. Democracy has a very limited meaning for them- getting to power via elections
- They don't believe in Loktantra
- They only believe in getting votes for power
- Four enemies of Democracy: 1) Parivaarvad 2) Jaativaad 3) Sampradayvaad 4) Ausarvaad (Dynastic tendencies, casteism, communalism and opportunism)
- All of these present in Congress
- Congress says India is beehive, BJP thinks India is our mother (land)
- Congress says poverty is a state of mind; we think we have to serve the poor (daridranarayan)
- Serving the poor is like serving God
- Congress ko 'mazza' nahi aata unless they talk about poor people
- But we lose our sleep when we listen to the poor talk
- Lot of difference between Congress and BJP
- They believe in divide and rule. We believe in unity and growth
- They consider politics everything. We consider 'rashtraneeti' everything
- You try to save your seat day and night. We try to save the country day and night
- Congress wants to divide and rule, we want to unite and develop
- India wants to be freed. India not willing to tolerate you any more
- They worry about women empowerment. But if you are genuinely worried about women, then at least work on controlling prices so they can sleep peacefully
- They had promised to reduce inflation in 100 days after they were elected - did prices go down?
- At least bring back prices at levels where the Vajpayee-government left them
- The people also need to know why they are in jail in Rajasthan... in Haryana too, there is a Congress government and a former minister is in jail... tell the people what he is in jail for... Stop deceiving the people
- Congress and corruption are twin sisters. Where there is Congress there will be corruption, and where there is corruption, you'll find the Congress
- Till you rid the country of the Congress, you will not get a corruption free India
- Congress blames BJP for not allowing the passage the of anti-corruption bills, but the proceedings in Parliament are being stalled by their own MPs
- Congress pehele logon ki aakhon mein dhool jhokti thi, aab mirchi phek rahi hain... (referencing to the pepper spray incident)
- This land was known for textiles but why not anymore... You make good speeches where you want to promote exports but when cotton-farmers want to export, there are restrictions imposed
- Modi's five-year mantra for cotton farmers - Farm to fibre, fibre to fabric, fabric to fashion and fashion to foreign
- Vote for the lotus... I'll put Lakshmi on that Lotus and send her back to Karnataka