Sundergarh/Sonepur: Reminiscing the famous quote 'Andhera chatega, Suraj niklega, Kamal khilega' made by former PM and BJP patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee in Mumbai in late 80s, PM Modi during his visit to Odisha on Saturday gave a clarion call to bring BJP to power and build a 'Majboot' Odisha. And PM Modi today again reiterated that BJP will win big in Odisha in 2019 elections.
Addressing an election rally in western Odisha, PM Modi took a dig at Naveen led BJD government for discriminating western Odisha for long. Modi asked the crowd, 'Do you want to see vikas-bad or Bhed-bhav?’
PM Modi today charged the BJD government a 'Shusth sarkar' (Lazy government). In the same vein, Modi went on to call the BJP a 'tez tarrar sarkar' (pro-active government). The accusation of PM Modi assumes immense significance when only yesterday a video of CM Naveen doing physical workouts and giving a one-liner 'ready to fight for the people of Odisha' went viral.
Addressing the huge gathering, PM Modi reiterated that 2019 elections are quite significant as the countrymen will have to choose an 'honest' and 'industrious' government or a 'corrupt' and 'indecisive government'. PM tagged both BJD and Congress as 'corrupt' and 'indecisive'.
Again pitting himself as 'chowkidar' in Odisha and replying to Naveen's recent charge of Central negligence in Berhampur, PM accused the Naveen Patnaik led BJD government of lacking 'Sahi niti' (right policies) and 'Sahi niyat' (right intentions). 'The chowkidar has 'sahi niti' and 'sahi niyat', thundered Modi and added that had the Naveen-led government's intentions been honest, the farmers could have availed 1.5-times MSP announced by Centre; 50 lakh farmers in Odisha would have availed benefits of PM-KISAN; crores of central grants would not be lying unutilised; only 8 lakh pucca house for poor would not have been built; the coal corridor holding ample job opportunities for youth would not have been languishing; Ayushman Bharat would have been in force in Odisha; the huge DMF corpus wouldn’t have remained unutilised. "Don't you need to punish such callous BJD government?', asked Modi.
In a bid to take on Naveen's Hockey World Cup fervour in Sundergarh, PM Modi said Sundergarh is nursery of hockey and the 'Khelo India' flagship programme launched by Centre is aimed at boosting the sports infra and budding players in remote villages across the country.
As BJP was founded on this day, PM said BJP is not born out of 'dal-dal' (sludge), dynasty or dhan-bal (money power). Rather, BJP is a party born out of India's ancient values and people's aspiration. PM paid tributes to BJP workers who took part in anti-emergency agitation and lost lives in political violence in Kerala and West Bengal. "A BJP worker's two foot were in rail and jail', he recalled former PM Vajpayee's famed lines.
Interestingly, PM Modi first said that he was not the first PM to visit Sonepur, but only a pradhan sevak who has come to take blessings from his masters (electorate). PM praised Sonepur for its famous silk sarees, like Varanasi. He added that Varanasi and Sonepur have a lot of similarities as they both are temple towns.
PM Modi took a jibe at Naveen Patnaik here, when he asked the crowd don't you see 'saffron wave' in Odisha, as the people gave a roaring 'yes'; PM said some people say they can't see any such wave. Recently, CM Naveen Patnaik in response to Modi's Tripura claim had said BJD will win 21 seats.
In response to PM Modi, OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik said, "They(BJP) are helping industrialists and using their money for election campaigning. What's wrong if we(Congress) are using poor people as vote bank?"
Similarly, BJD vice-president Anang Uday Singh Deo alleged, "During NDA govt, many barrages were constructed over river Mahanadi obstructing flow of water. The funds for KBK districts were also not disbursed."