Hat-trick at Centre, PM Modi tells unjab, wraps up 2024 campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday winded up his 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, claiming that the BJP will score a hat-trick on June 4, the poll counting day.

Addressing a rally for Anita Som Prakash, the BJP candidate from Hoshiarpur, a reserved constituency, he said: “India has made up its mind to go for the Modi government for the third time. After decades, we are scoring a hat-trick at the Centre with a full majority to fulfil the dream of Viksit Bharat. The 21st century is India’s century. The ‘dumdaar sarkar (strong government), is coming back.”

“In 10 years, Modi has given a robust government that vanquished the nation’s enemies and made India prosperous and self-reliant,” he said, adding his government had worked with the motive that ‘Karam hi dharam hai’ for ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas’.

Says 125-day roadmap ready

“We have already prioritised works to be done after coming to power. A 125-day roadmap has already been prepared. The first quarter will be dedicated to youngsters with key decisions to be taken in five years and the vision for the next 25 years to make a new India,” he said.

Modi asserted that the time has come to make Punjab ‘viksit (developed)’. “I have sensed the mood of Punjab. They have decided to vote for Modi this time,” he said.

Sharpening its attack on Congress and the INDIA bloc, the PM said now their leaders are talking big about the protection of the Constitution through this election campaign but people should remember the 1975 emergency and 1984 riots.

“Where was Congress when it destroyed the Constitution by imposing an emergency in 1975. The Sikhs were brutally massacred in 1984 and where was the Constitution when the tyres were put around the necks of the Sikhs, who were burnt in Delhi,” Modi said.

Accusing the Opposition of taking away the reservation of Dalits, backwards, and tribals, Modi said that the Congress and INDIA bloc members were insulting the spirit of the Constitution and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar. “They want to take away the reservations of Dalits and backward classes and give them only to Muslims. Modi has exposed their conspiracy, and this is why they keep abusing him,” he said.

“Due to their love for the vote bank, they could not assert their rights over Kartarpur Sahib at the time of Partition. These are the people who have been continuously opposing the Ram Mandir for their vote bank. The INDI alliance is opposing the CAA due to the politics of appeasement,” he said.

PM Modi said Punjab is the land of brave warriors but the leaders of the INDIA bloc always insulted the armed forces.

“At one point, they abused former army chief Bipin Rawat as ‘Gali Ka Gunda’, while at another instance, they asked for evidence of surgical strikes. Congress and the INDIA bloc are leaving no stone unturned to weaken our armed forces,” the PM said adding, “Don’t force me to open my mouth. I will expose your seven generations if required.”

Claims AAP learnt corruption from Cong

Modi criticised the Aam Aadmi Party for allying with the Congress and said that the former has learned the lessons of corruption from the latter. “Another corrupt party (AAP) has joined the Congress. Here they are doing a drama of fighting each other, while they are contesting together in Chandigarh and Delhi. People should not forget that the first government of the most corrupt person was formed in Delhi with the support of Congress, hence, they have learned the lessons of corruption from the corrupt Congress,” he said.

“The Congress is the mother of corruption. For 60 years, the Congress has committed many incidents of corruption. The Congress has done PhD in corruption,” Modi said.

Targeting the Aam Aadmi Party over the drug menace in Punjab and the alleged liquor scam in Delhi, the Prime Minister said, “These people (the AAP) came in the name of freeing Punjab from drugs, but they have made drugs their means of earning. The entire world knows about the liquor scam in Delhi. The mining mafia is also running rampant here.”

Polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats will take place in the seventh and final phase on June 1. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, in a six-week marathon running from April 19 to June 1. The counting and results will be announced on June 4.

Modi invokes Guru Ravidas, says welfare of poor his govt’s top priority

Comparing his government with the ideology of Guru Ravidas, Modi said it is a great privilege that he was ending his election campaign from Hoshiarpur, which is referred to as a ‘small Kashi’. He announced that after forming the government, the BJP will name the airport in Adampur after Guru Ravidas.

“Guru Ravidas wanted a society where there is no discrimination. The Modi government has followed the same principles and provided welfare schemes to the people without any discrimination. The people were provided with pucca houses, gas connections, toilets and power connections without bias so that the poor have the right to live their lives with dignity,” he said.

Modi added that being an MP from Varanasi, the birthplace of Guru Ravidas, he would leave no stone unturned to maintain the religious places associated with the guru.