E-Paper
Modi slams Cong, visits key dera in hill state push
Modi said the faction-ridden Congress is incapable of providing a stable government, which is a prerequisite for ensuring development and good law and order
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday raised the pitch in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections with two public rallies in which he accused the Congress of neglecting the hill state and indulging in corruption in defence deals. Modi also visited the Radha Soami Satsang Beas dera near Amritsar in Punjab and met with its head Gurinder Singh Dhillon — a move seen by political commentators as an outreach to the group’s large follower base in the neighbouring hill state.
Addressing a gathering in Solan, Modi said the faction-ridden Congress is incapable of providing a stable government, which is a prerequisite for ensuring development and good law and order. He said the “three decades of unstable governments at the Centre”, a reference to the Opposition’s rule, resulted in the waste of resources and poor development.
“Congress means instability, selfishness, nepotism and corruption,” he said, adding: “Three decades were wasted as elections happened frequently; there was uncertainty and lot of money was wasted.”
At the rally, where candidates from 18 constituencies were present, the PM said, “People need not remember the candidates’ name, they only need to remember the lotus symbol. Every vote that is cast for the lotus will come to me.”
Speaking earlier at Sundernagar in Himachal’s Mandi district, Modi said that every single vote cast on November 12 will define the development journey of the hill state for the next 25 years, and urged people to start a new tradition by voting back the BJP into power to ensure stability and progress.
Since 1985, the state has alternated between the BJP and Congress. Polling for the 68-member assembly will be held on November 12 and the results will be declared on December 8. In the last assembly elections held in 2017, the BJP secured 44 seats, while the Congress got 21. This time, the Aam Aadmi Party is also in the fray in the state.
Modi cautioned the people against “selfish groups”, saying they call themselves “kattar imaandaar” (very honest) but are the most corrupt and conspire to divide the society. These remarks were seen as an attack on the AAP, which often describes itself as a political outfit rid of corruption. Mandi is the home district of chief minister Jairam Thakur, who accompanied the Prime Minister to the event.
Before heading to Himachal Pradesh for his election rallies, PM Modi spent about an hour at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). RSSB, also known as Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, is located in Beas town, nearly 45km away from Amritsar city. It has followers across the country, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
In February, the Prime Minister met Dhillon in Delhi and praised the spiritual organisation for its social service.
The group has hundreds of thousands of followers across the country, with a sizeable following in Himachal Pradesh as well.
While the dera says it is an apolitical group, leaders of various political parties have often visited the dera ahead of elections. Earlier in April, Himachal chief minister Jairam Thakur also met Dhillon and attended a satsang.
He also said that several states that used to follow the practice of not voting the same party to power successively have now understood the benefits of allowing a government to continue in office for more than a term. He cited the example of Uttarakhand and Goa, two states that voted the BJP back to power earlier this year.
“It has happened in UP, too. When there is a stable government, there is a trend of faster development and accountability. When governments change every five years, then development is sluggish and people do not fulfil their obligations,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that, during Congress rule, various groups with vested interests wanted instability of the government at the Centre and the party itself did not want stable governments in smaller states. “These selfish groups used to only worry about their own interests when they came to power. They conspired to break the unity of the country and we need to be conscious of their dangerous thinking,” he said.
The remarks came on a day the Congress released its election manifesto in the state. Reviving the old pension scheme, 300 units of free power, a ₹680-crore startup fund, 100,000 jobs and ₹1,500 per month for women between 18 and 60 years of age are among the promises by the Congress.
Making false promises and giving false guarantees has been the Congress’s old trick, Modi alleged, adding that it never even opened its manifesto, while the BJP is known for toiling day and night to fulfil what it promises. He referred to the nullification of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “We had promised Ram Temple. Today, Ram Mandir is being built,” he said.
With HTC inputs from Sundernagar and Amritsar
