Launching a scathing attack on his opponents, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election was a fight between Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and SCAM which he said stood for “Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati.”
“BJP's fight is against SCAM. By scam I mean, S- Samajwadi (Party) , C - Congress, A- Akhilesh (Yadav), M – Mayawati,” Modi said at a public rally in Western UP’s Meerut.
Modi said people have to choose between development agenda of BJP and those who give shelter to criminals, indulge in vote bank politics and encourage land and mine mafias.
In his over-an-hour-long address, he spoke at length about corruption, law and order and nepotism allegedly prevailing in the state as he sought people's vote for BJP to change the state's fate.
Modi also targeted the pre-poll alliance between the ruling SP and its erstwhile rival Congress and asked the crowd how “people who could not save themselves, how could they save UP.”
He said Congress ran a campaign against the Samajwadi Party government and wondered as to what happened that both have now joined hands.
“Congress used to target SP, they have been fighting to finish each other for decades. But what changed overnight that you have now embraced them,” Modi said.
Modi likened his first election rally in Meerut with India's first war of independence in 1857, saying it was a fight against the British then and now it is a battle against poverty and the state's rulers who have obstructed growth and development.
"The first war of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. Then the fight was against the British and now the war is to eradicate poverty," Modi said, addressing a well attended gathering of BJP supporters here.
“Uttar Pradesh has so much potential but why don’t the youths of UP have employment opportunities?” he asked.
The Prime Minister said despite Uttar Pradesh having so much potential for development, youth from the state were still being forced to look for employment opportunities in other states of India.
"It is UP which made me the Prime Minister," Modi said, adding that he wanted to repay its debt and that he can do it only with a government that joins hands with the Centre to develop the state unlike the current dispensation which is a "hindrance" in its progress.
“Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, if the state government has no intention, the money will go somewhere else. Centre is ready to do everything for UP because UP made me PM. If UP’s destiny is to be changed, government should be changed,” said Modi.
Wooing farmers, he reiterated the party's promise of waiving loans of small and marginal farmers and paying the dues of sugarcane growers within 14 days of coming to power. Playing the pro-poor and pro-farmers card, a plank BJP has assiduously tried to claim for some time, Modi said the recent budget was all about them besides the middle class.
The Prime Minister again attacked the opposition parties over demonetisation and surgical strikes to strike a chord with the audience as he said he was determined to cleanse the system at the top and was not interested in small fights.
"Those who filled rooms with currency notes collected by selling party tickets are very anguished as I forced them to deposit their money in banks with an announcement at 8 PM on November 8.... "I knew they will all gang up against me. They will kick up a storm because Modi has robbed them and they will bring him down."
"Do you think that corruption should be ended and black money finished off? I have been doing this and will not rest nor will let these robbers rest. No matter how many of them gang up to oppose me, my fight will not stop. Modi will not stop," he said.
Targeting Congress, he said a minister in the party-run Karnataka government has been found in possession of Rs 150 crore and but it has not taken any action against him.
Targeting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he said first his concern was all about family, then about himself and now it is about the chair.
Those accused of running mine mafia, patronising criminals, rapists and land-grabbers have been given tickets in SP, he alleged.
