The skies were dark with thick cloud cover and there was intermittent showers but they stopped by the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose to give his speech, where he offered a developmental road map for the progress of Telangana, addressing the mammoth gathering at the Parade Grounds here on Sunday.
“People of Telangana have already paved the road for electing the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] to power in the State and the enthusiasm of crowd who have come from various districts is a reflection of that”, observed the Prime Minister.
There had been progress and development across the country in the last eight years as the BJP government strove to make people’s lives better and brought about a number of welfare schemes benefiting all sections of the society without any discrimination, he claimed.
“The Telangana people too desire the same with a ‘Double Engine’ government as this region has a hoary past of tales of valour, courage and sacrifice from the times of Rani Rudrama Devi to Komaram Bheem and others. There is lot of culture, arts and crafts and lot of talent and this can be brought forth with fillip being given to innovation and technology by his government,” Mr. Modi said.
He began his speech in Telugu conveying his ‘namaskarams’ to Telangana brothers and sisters, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The party had taken a conscious decision to hold the national meeting in Hyderabad as it discussed steps to take the country development forward with self-reliance as the abiding theme.
Measured speech
In a measured speech, which was strikingly different from the one he had given at the Begumpet airport a month ago when he had lashed out at the TRS government and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) for “corruption, family rule and tyranny”, Mr. Modi totally avoided taking the name or criticising the State government or KCR.
The Prime Minister only went to the extent of stating that the aspirations of the hopes of the Telangana people could be served much better with the BJP government here and at the Centre with its “ sabka saath, sabka vikas and sab ka vishwas” motto.
He reeled out figures to buttress the claim that the Centre had been allocating huge resources for developing national highways, regional ring roads, roads to villages, women and child welfare, crops procurement, benefiting farmers to the extent of ₹1 lakh crore.
Pandemic battle
The upcoming Ramagundam fertilizers would bring cheer to the entire country as it would ensure sufficient supply of fertilizers and save foreign exchange, he said. Mr. Modi recalled the country’s pandemic battle where Hyderabad’s biotech industry not only gave vaccines for the country but also supplied across the world saving a lot of lives.
The BJP government helped the people to tide over the crises with supply of free rations to the poor, ensuring vaccine was given free and healthcare was available to all. Not just science and technology but his government had taken lot of initiatives in rural development. “We are going to further improve connectivity with villages and highways to take development to the nook and corner of Telangana,” the Prime Minister said.
“I can see the party gaining strength with every election — from the last Parliament elections to the Greater Hyderabad polls to the byelections later — with youth and women and others showing lot of support,” he said.
Thanks gathering
Pausing to take a sip from the glass of water when the crowd went berserk chanting “Modi, Modi”, he repeatedly thanked the gathering for the “love and affection” being showered on him. Sections of the restive crowd repeatedly tried to surge forward, testing the steel and wooden barricades as well as the police and party volunteers.
The effort was to mostly take selfies with Mr. Modi in the backdrop or surge forward for a better look without showing much interest in what the Prime Minister was stating.
Earlier, the crowd started chanting “Modi...Modi” noticing three choppers arriving, bringing the Prime Minister, and he was greeted with thunderous applause as he made his appearance on the stage filled with his Cabinet colleagues — Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, G. Kishan Reddy — and BJP national president J.P. Nadda, national OBC president K. Laxman and others.
