Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a campaign rally in Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district on April 28, where he sought votes for party nominees Vishveshwara Hegde from Uttara Kannada and Prahlad Joshi from Dharwad.
He asked the people to reject the Congress that had a “perverted sense of vote bank politics”.
In Karnataka, the maladministration of the Congress government is not only leading to increasing crime rates, but also emboldening the criminal elements. Law and order has completely broken down.
“Before 2014, newspapers were full of headlines of bomb blasts. Now they have all stopped. But when the Congress comes to power, there is a bomb blast in Bengaluru. What is unfortunate is that some Congress leaders suspected it was a gas cylinder blast. Have they gone off their mind? The real accused were traced only when the NIA intervened,” he said.
He claimed that the Congress was seeking the support of banned organisations like PFI to win the Wayanad seat. “Joining such anti national forces like PFI is the track record of the Congress while our track record is to ban the organisation and arrest its leaders,” he said.
He said that the Congress had not only tried to disrupt the construction of the Ayodhya Ram temple, but also insulted it, once it was built.
“Our ancestors had been fighting for the temple for 500 years. Lakhs sacrificed their lives. The decision to build it should have been taken the day after independence. But it was not. It takes a person with a chest size of 56 inches to build the temple,” he said.
“What is more, Congress leaders kept fighting against the temple for decades. They used several tricks to stop it. They even claimed before the court in 2019 that the case should be dropped as it was likely to benefit Modi. Of course, it was built with the blessings of the people who voted for us and who donated for the temple.
“While all of you are proud of the temple, the Congress is not. The temple trustees displayed magnanimity in inviting the Congress leaders. But the Congress leaders rejected it. Do you think such people should be rejected or not?,” he asked the crowd.
He said that Iqbal Ansari, whose family had been the petitioner in the Ayodhya case for three generations, had accepted the Supreme Court judgement. “When the temple trustees invited the Ansari family for the temple inauguration, they came and stayed till the end. They also gifted a wooden replica of the temple to their gunman who happened to be a Hindu. Being a Muslim when Iqbal Ansari can do this, why can the Congress leaders no do so?,” he said.
He urged the people to vote in large numbers. He repeatedly asked them to increase the poll percentage by asking everyone in their constituency to go out and vote. “You may be celebrating marriages or other ceremonies or enjoying a vacation on polling day. But you should vote,” he said.
Mr Modi said that the BJP NDA government had not only focussed on the development of the whole country but also sincerely worked for fulfilling local aspirations. We have worked to provide houses for the poor, water supply and electricity to Uttara Kannada district. A new port is being built for the benefit of my fishermen brothers. We have been able to get GI tag for Sirsi areca. BJP has thus protected the identity of the farmers here. This is benefitting the farmers. We created a special ministry for fisheries. The whole region has benefitted from our programmes. Dharwad has got a new IIT and a grand railway station. Our motto is ‘vikas bhi. virasat bhi’ (development and heritage).
He said that the farmers, especially in Karnataka, were getting the benefits of the increased global demand for millets. Mr Modi claimed that the USA president had organised a banquet in his honour which was unprecedented in scale for any former Indian PM. “At that banquet were dishes made of millets. Will our farmers not feel proud when their crops from Uttara Kannada reach the white house?,” he said. When I told the UN that millets were superfood and environment friendly crops, they celebrated the international millet year. That boosted sales, he said.
Leaders like Mr Hegde, Mr Joshi, MLAs, party office bearers, and others were present on the stage.
However, MP Anant Kumar Hegde and MLA Shivaram Hebbar were not present.
