Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Slamming the opposition parties and the "ecosystem" backing them, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said those rejected by people in elections have been left with few weapons and were spreading confusion and lies. He asked the BJP workers to reach out to the public more actively, adding that maintaining direct communication with the masses has always been the party's strength. Modi also said that the party will face more challenges in the coming days than what it did while in the opposition.
Addressing an event at the party headquarters to felicitate its newly-elected president J P Nadda, Modi said the opposition's problem is not that BJP was making any mistake but that people continue to bless it.
"Those rejected by the public in electoral politics and are no longer acceptable to the masses. They have been left with few weapons. Spreading confusion and lies is one of them... Then you let your ecosystem fuel it. This is what we have often been witnessing," he said.
Neither did Modi name his rivals not did he refer to any issue during his speech. But his comments come against the backdrop of anti-CAA protests, which have been backed by opposition parties. His government has received flak from many quarters over this issue.
In an apparent reference to the BJP's nationwide pro-CAA drive, he said senior party leaders have been speaking at 10-15 programmes daily which are being attended by 50,000 to one lakh people.
"But this will not find a mention anywhere," he lamented, adding that "this game will continue and so will we."
Some people have objections to the BJP's ideals, and party workers should not hope for these critics to change their stand, Modi said, adding "This group has never been with us and will not be with us."
The BJP is not here for a short period, but will serve the country for a long time to come, he added.
Asserting that despite attempts by the Opposition to "spread confusion and lies", people's faith in the BJP and his government have remained "unshaken", Modi said. The party has returned to power with a bigger mandate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls despite its rivals fighting with their full strength, he added.
He asserted that one of the biggest events of democracy was that people gave the BJP a bigger mandate after handing it a majority, the first for a non-Congress party, in 2014.
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