Cong keeps dreaming of digging my grave: Modi

Making a fresh pitch for a “double engine” government in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that voting in the same party at the Centre and state was necessary for development

Making a fresh pitch for a “double engine” government in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that voting in the same party at the Centre and state was necessary for development.

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On his sixth visit to the state this year, the PM also sharpened his attack on the Congress and its former president Rahul Gandhi for his comments on democracy at an event in London.

In Mandya, in the Vokkaliga heartland of Old Mysuru region, the PM addressed the first of his two public meetings on Sunday, and accused the Congress and its allies of “dreaming of digging” his grave.

“Amid the efforts of the double engine government for the development of the country and the progress of its people, what is Congress and its associates doing... Congress is dreaming about digging the kabr (grave) of Modi,” he said, after inaugurating the 118-km-long Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway project in the state’s Mandya district.

The expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities from around three hours to about 75 minutes. The ₹8,480 crore project involved upgrading the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta-Mysuru section of NH-275 to six lanes.

The BJP has often used the term “double-engine” for its governments at the Centre and state levels.

Targeting the opposition party, the PM said, “While the Congress is busy digging the grave of Modi, Modi is busy building Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway… improving the lives of the poor.”

The Congress, he added, was unaware that blessings of the people is the biggest shield for him.

“Before 2014, the Congress government at the Centre left no stone unturned to ruin poor people. Congress government looted the money which was for poor people,” he said.

The BJP returned to power in 2019, after the alliance government run by the Congress and JD(S) collapsed.

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for a host of development projects, including the Mysuru-Kushalnagar four-lane highway which will be developed at a cost of around ₹4,130 crore. The project envisions to connect Kushalnagar with Bengaluru and halve the travel time from about five hours to only 2.5 hours.

The projects will pave the way for “sabka saath, sabka vikas”, the PM said, emphasising that good infrastructure will enhance the “ease of living”, and create more opportunities for the people of the state.

“The state-of-the-art road infrastructure projects being launched today in Karnataka will boost connectivity across the state and strengthen economic growth. All these projects will further speed up development and open the way for prosperity. All these projects will pave way for ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’,” Modi said.

The state is scheduled to go to polls in May.

Upon reaching the district on Sunday morning, the PM received a grand welcome from BJP workers and supporters. He then proceeded to hold a mega roadshow, as thousands of people lined both sides of the streets and showered flower petals on his convoy.

Modi’s visit to the district in the Old Mysuru region is being viewed as the party’s attempt at raising its poll pitch. The district, a bastion of the Janata Dal (Secular) with a strong Congress presence, is dominated by the Vokkaliga community.

Vokkaligas constitute about 15% of the populace and have dominated Karnataka politics for decades, along with the Lingayats who constitute about 17%.

The party aims to make inroads in the region to return to power with an absolute majority.

The Old Mysuru region has 89 Assembly seats — 28 of them in Bengaluru — and is spread across 11 districts in south Karnataka including Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajnagar, Hassan and Kolar.

In the 2018 polls, the BJP managed to win one seat in Hassan; later in the high-voltage 2019 bypolls, it netted KR Pet seat, registering its first victory in Mandya district and also won Chikkaballapur, another first. The party won the Sira Assembly segment in Tumakuru district for the first time in the 2020 bypolls.

The second stop for the Prime Minister was Dharwad in north Karnataka, where politically-influential Lingayat community holds the key to electoral fortunes.

“I have come to the land of Bhagwan Basaveshwar and I’m feeling blessed. Among the contributions of Basaveshwara most important is the establishment of Anubhava Mantapa; this democratic system is researched across the world, and there are several such things because of which we say India is not just the largest democracy, it is also the mother of democracy,” Modi said.

Addressing a large gathering after inaugurating the permanent campus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dharwad, he said, he had the good fortune of unveiling the statue of Basaveshwara in London a few years ago.

“Statue of lord Basaveshwar is in London, but it is unfortunate that in the same London questions were raised on India’s democracy. The roots of India’s democracy have been nurtured by centuries of our history. No power in this world can harm India’s democratic traditions. Despite this some are constantly making it stand in the dock,” Modi said in a veiled attack at Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi.

Gandhi, on March 7, said that the structures of Indian democracy are under “brutal attack”.

The Prime Minister’s statement is significant as Basaveshwara is highly revered in the state, especially by the dominant Lingayat community, who form the major vote base of the ruling BJP.

Actress-turned-politician and independent MP from Mandya, Sumalatha Ambareesh announcing her support to the BJP, just ahead of PM’s visit to her constituency, is also likely to help the party in the upcoming polls. She shared the dais with the PM at the Mandya event where chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, and Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Pralhad Joshi were also present.

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s remarks, Congress leader Pawan Khera said the PM “wasted” nine years in “abusing” the elders and ancestors of this country. “You (PM) insult three generations when you say nothing happened in the last 70 years, then you do not bother about the image of the country. You pat yourself on the back in Parliament saying ‘ek akela sab par bhari’, the world sees it and also laughs at it,” Khera said in a video statement in Hindi posted on his Twitter account.

Meanwhile, the Kodagu Ex-Service Personnel Association has opposed the four-Lane Expressway between Mysuru and Kushalnagar, saying that the project will destruct the fragile ecosystem of the area.

Addressing a press conference in Mysuru on Sunday, hours before the foundation stone laying ceremony, Col CP Muthanna, former president of Coorg Wildlife Society and a member of Kodagu Ex-Service Personnel Association, urged the PM to shelve the project.

“Though the tiny district of Kodagu has contributed hundreds of officers who have reached top posts, their homeland continues to be systematically destroyed by a series of development projects and conversion of agriculture and plantation lands for commercial purposes,” Col Muthanna said.