There Will Be No Poor In Next 10 Years If BJP Wins Again: Rajnath Singh

The Samajwadi Party is a "samapt" (finished) party and the Congress will be "wiped out" like Dinosaurs from the country, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in a rally at Bah in Agra district on Wednesday.

After 10 years, the children will enquire about the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, Mr Singh said while addressing an election rally in support of the BJP candidate from Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha constituency, Raj Kumar Chahar.

The senior BJP leader also participated in a rally at Jarar in Bah block of Agra district in support of Chahar.

Addressing the rally, Mr Singh said, "Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi had two wishes. One was the dissolving of the Congress party and another was removing poverty from India. The first wish will be fulfilled by you (the public) by wiping out the Congress from the country like Dinosaurs."

"Since Independence, poverty has not been removed from the country either during the period of former prime ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi or during Manmohan Singh's tenure as the prime minister." "But since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power with a majority, we have fulfilled the promises we made in the manifesto. We abrogated Article 370, consecrated the 'Ram Lalla' temple at Ayodhya and also banned instant triple talaq," he highlighted.

The schemes of the BJP government have provided pakka houses, tapped drinking water and toilets in every house, he said.

"During COVID-19, every citizen of the country got vaccines twice and even three times. And there will be no poor men in the country in the coming 10 years, if the BJP comes to power again," he said.

Highlighting the country's standing at the global stage, he said now every nation listens to what India says on the international platform. The country evacuated students from Ukraine during the Russia-Ukraine war which began in 2022, he said.

The defence minister said, "Earlier there were terrorism activities not just in Jammu and Kashmir but also in other parts of the country such as Maharashtra and Punjab. But now it has ended because the armed forces are able to give befitting replies both within the boundaries and outside," he added.

Paying tributes to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Singh said, "Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was from here (Bateshwar). He was a renowned leader and was respected across the globe. I pay tributes to him."

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