Modi addresses farmers' rally in Gujarat: highlights

Ahmedabad: Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is addressing a farmers' rally in Narmada district of the state ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony of the proposed 182-meters high statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Here are the highlights of his speech:

• For the past many years, I had this dream (speaking of the statue).
• After a lot of inputs from many people, this statue of unity's idea came to us.
• It's a historic foundation ceremony for the country. We tried to incorporate everybody's views on state of unity. Many of them gave me suggestions on Sardar Patel's statue. I want to thank everyone who inspired me to build state of unity.
• Garudeshwar will become a separate taluka.
• History is being created on the banks on the Narmada. The Gujarat government has decided to make Garudeshwar a taluka.
• New taluka being created so that Narmada project is fast-tracked. We will provide water to tribals from the Sardar Sarovar dam. Farmers and tribals won't face problems due to the project.
• This was Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel's dream - the dam on Narmada. The Sadar Sarovar dam has been taking water to Gujarat and Rajasthan. Water is valuable in these states because it has always been scarce.
• Many governments ruled and spent a lot in this project but this government spent double of what has been spent by the other governments.
• Take the example of Kutch. People were abandoning Kutch because it had no water, now people are returning.
• People in Rajasthan thank us for providing Narmada water
• We priortised water allocation to many years in Gujarat.
• Ghulami ki maansikta 50 saal tak chali. We still have a colonial hangover in the country.
• The budget is presented at 5 pm in the evening because when the British ruled, 5 pm in India was about 11 am their time.
• When Vajpayee did the nuclear tests, we were able to hold our head up high in the world.
• Who would look at China? But then they built Shanghai and a new history started being created. People stood up and looked at Japan when they ran bullet trains.
• India needs to have global positioning in the world.
• This statue of unity is part of India's global positioning. We will project Patel's legacy to the whole world. Do we respect only leaders who belong to the BJP? We respect leaders who have sacrificed their lives for this country.
• You (Congress) are insulting Patel by affiliating him to a certain party.
• We should not divide history - our heritage is together. We need Sardar Sahab's secularism - not votebank secularism.
• He worked towards unifying the country and not dividing people within the country...that is Patel's secularism. We need to move forward with his ideology of secularism.
• He rebuilt the Somnath temple - thought of our heritage and not religion. He united the country, all the princely states. I urge the PM, let us all work towards the secular ideals of Sarbad Patel. No matter what the party is, all out hearts should be together for the country.
• Babasaheb Ambedkar is like God for Dalits and the oppressed.
• Sardar Patel was known as the Iron Man but how will this generation know what made him the Iron Man?
• Our country has been torn apart by factionalism and communalism and to restore the country's image we need to take the message of unity to every doorstep.
• The Congress has been compelled to advertise Sardar Patel's achievements; this is the Gujarat effect. We should not have a society that forgets its history... this statue is our gift to our future generations.
• This statue will be such that it will be intact for centuries. We don't want to merely contribute from the exchequer and make this statue - we want this to be an exercise in unity. Farm implements are most dear to farmers - Sardar was a farmer and the iron-man - so we have asked for farm implements from all villages.
• Top nahi chaiye, talwar nahi chaiye, kisan ka auzaar chaiye...Each citizen in India will say even my village is there in the statue.
• We'll have photographs of headmen of 7 lakh villages, their stories in a digital display here.
• We want people from all over the world to see this as a symbol of India's glory and an inspiration to our countrymen.
• I urge the PM - Rajasthan, Gujarat need water. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh need power. Maharashtra, which has a Congress government will save Rs 4,000 crore.
• Let the Congress take credit - but let us finish this dam.
• Don't take Modi's name but in such work there should be no politics.
• The country comes before the party - the PM can come inaugurate this and I won't come if he doesn't want. But this project should be completed.
• We all stand united... our guarantee of unity is our guarantee to our future.