"I Ended Congress's Licence To Loot": PM Modi In Chhattisgarh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at Congress today, saying it overlooked the needs of the poor for decades since Independence and never understood their pain.

Addressing the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp Sankhnad' rally in Chhattisgarh's Bastar, which will vote on April 19, he said the Congress manifesto for the elections has the imprint of the Muslim League.

During the Congress rule, corruption became the country's identity, and the party thought it had a licence to loot, he said.

"Since Independence, the Congress overlooked the needs of the poor for decades and never understood their pain," the PM said.

"People wondered what would happen to the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic. But I said I will give free vaccine and ration to them," he said, adding, "Due to my government's efforts, 25 crore rose above the poverty line."

Speaking at the rally in Chhote Ambal village to support party candidates Mahesh Kashyap (Bastar) and Bhojraj Nag (Kanker), PM Modi said it is the poor that suffer the most due to corruption.

"Corruption destroys the rights of the poor. Before 2014, scams worth several lakh crores were committed," he said, adding that former PM Rajiv Gandhi had admitted that 15 paise of every rupee allotted for development work reached the rightful beneficiary.

"Whose claws snatched the remaining 85 paise? Modi cancelled this licence of loot of the Congress. The BJP government sent Rs 34 lakh crore directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries in the last 10 years. Every rupee sent from Delhi has reached cent per cent to the poor," he said.

Had the Congress been in power now and the 15 paise tradition continued, then Rs 28 lakh crore of this Rs 34 lakh crore would have been embezzled, the Prime Minister alleged.

He managed to cancel this licence because the people gave him the power to do so, the PM asserted.

Targeting the Congress over a statement of Chhattisgarh's Leader of Opposition Charan Das Mahant, the PM said the Opposition began abusing him when he ended their loot.

But he was fully protected from such abuse because "crores of my countrymen, my mothers, and sisters have become my 'raksha kavach (protective shield)'," the PM said.

Since strict action is being taken against the corruption of the previous (Congress) government, including those who duped the state's youth, the Opposition leaders are saying that his head should be broken with sticks, PM Modi told the crowd.

"Modi is not afraid of such threats. For Modi, my India is my family. I am busy saving my country and my family from being looted. I call for 'bhrashtachar hatao (remove corruption)' and they say 'bhrashtachari bachao (save the corrupt)'," the PM said.

The Congress and other opposition parties held rallies to save the corrupt but they must understand that wrongdoers will go to jail no matter how much they threaten him, he said.

"This is Modi's guarantee," the Prime Minister said.

Slamming the Congress and other INDIA bloc constituents for declining the invite to the Ram Mandir's consecration ceremony, he said, "Ram Navami is not far away. This time people will have a glimpse of our Ram Lalla in Ayodhya in a grand temple and not in a tent." It was natural for the people of Chhattisgarh, the "nanihal", or the maternal grandparents' home, of Lord Ram, to be most when the dream of a grand temple was fulfilled after 500 years, he added.

"The Congress and INDIA bloc are very angry with the construction of Ram temple. The 'royal family' of Congress rejected the invitation to the consecration ceremony. The Congress leaders who considered this move wrong were expelled from the party. Those who attended were expelled from the party for six years," PM Modi said, adding, that it showed the Congress can go to any extent for appeasement.

The PM highlighted the work his government has done for tribals in the past 10 years and said they were always the BJP's priority.

"The daughter of the tribal community is today the country's President. It is the BJP that gave Chhattisgarh a tribal Chief Minister. The BJP government has created a separate ministry and a separate budget for tribals," he asserted.

Elections to the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state will be held in three phases on April 19, April 26, and May 7.

Bastar is the lone constituency to go to polls in the first phase.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)