The signs could be seen even 100 kilometres short of the rally ground at Meerut toll on Delhi-Saharanpur highway where buses after buses, filled with supporters and BJP flag atop, zoom passed without paying toll tax – a usual phenomenon with any party's rally in India.
'Do saal bemisal. Abki baar Modi Sarkar', may not strike a rhythmic tune but prominently marked the banners that dotted the last mile on way to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Vikash-Parv rally at Saharanpur in Western Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. Though the mega rally, attended by an estimated over one-lakh people, was to mark two years of Modi government, it had all the trademarks of an election campaign, with Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled next year.
The signs could be seen even 100 kilometres short of the rally ground at Meerut toll on Delhi-Saharanpur highway where buses after buses, filled with supporters and BJP flag atop, zoom passed without paying toll tax – a usual phenomenon with any party's rally in India. BJP MLAs and MLA ticket aspirants from Western UP districts of Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar flocked the venue with hundreds of supporters. In tune with the campaign mood, when the PM himself finally swooped down in his entourage of three Indian Air Force choppers, he stuck to his quintessential style, reminding of his rallies leading up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and subsequent state assembly elections. 'Bharat Mata ki...', Modi exhorted, and the crowd completed the slogan with a cheering 'Jai'.
The nearly 30-minute speech, which according to the party was originally meant to be an account of government's work in two years, was rather full of political promises. "I warn the sugar mill owners across the country who have held up nearly Rs 8,000 crore of payment to farmers," Modi said supposedly pandering to sugarcane farmers of Western UP. He, however, did not spell out how he intend to make his warning work even as the respective state governments are well within their rights to take appropriate action against erring mill owners.
Listing his government's achievement in two years, the PM said, "We have eased the compensation norms for farmers". He pointed to the crop insurance scheme and giving up of LPG subsidy by "one crore" people. "We have given gas connections to three crore new people belonging to lower strata," said Modi even as he talked about other schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Swach Bharat Abhiyan and financial inclusion of the marginalised through Jan Dhan Yojana.
Announcing that his cabinet will soon take a decision on increasing the retirement age of government doctors – both Central and state government – to 65, Modi said, "This was required to help the current shortage of doctors in India". He further said, "We have accelerated the road construction in India". Taking a high moral ground on corruption, Modi said, "Before I came to power, corruption hogged media debates and normal discussions among common man. Have you ever heard of a single incident of corruption anywhere in my government?" he asked.
Home minister Rajnath Singh, who too addressed the gathering, said that "Modi had raised India's image internationally" and brought up Congress' electoral debacles in recent Assam assembly elections. "Whenever BJP government has been in power in UP, law and order has been in control. Our 14-year-old exile shall end now," he said referring to BJP's last government in state until 2002.
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