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With the notification on elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly expected any day now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday sought votes for the BJP, urging voters to “rise above the politics of personal relations and caste” to “vote for development of UP” and “witness the change” after “14 years of exile”.
Taking swipes at the rival Congress, BSP and SP, the Prime Minister, addressing a huge BJP rally in Lucknow, said “there is one party which has been trying to establish a son for the past 15 years but is not succeeding… there is one party which is on the lookout for distant banks to save its money… and there is a party which is totally preoccupied with what will happen to a family”.
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He said the BJP was the only party which wants to save UP: “Kisi ko paisa bachana hai, kisi ko pariwar kabza karna hai. Hum hi hain jinhe UP bachana hai.”
He said caste and personal relations may have been factors once in electoral politics but “it is time people rise above the politics of personal relations and caste to vote for development of UP”.
Modi said people must vote to bring about complete change and give the BJP absolute majority. He cited the example of the party at the Centre, saying how it is able to take its decisions because of “a change after 30 years”: “Parivartan adha-adhura mat karna. Bhaari bahumat se BJP ko vijayi banana.”
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Continuing his attack on the SP and BSP, he said that despite being at loggerheads for years, they had come together to slam him. “Have you ever seen BSP and SP together? If SP says the sun is rising, the BSP will say it is setting. But after so many years they have come together on one issue: Modi ko badlo, Modi ko hatao. Modi keh raha hai: Note badlo, kala dhan hatao.”
Praising former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who represented Lucknow in the Lok Sabha, Modi said he will be very satisfied to see the response of the people of Lucknow.
Invoking Bhimrao Ambedkar, he said some people were troubled when his government launched the Bhim mobile app. “Will politics stoop so low… we launched the Bhim mobile app a couple of days ago and named it after Bhimrao Ambedkar who was an expert in economics… if it has been named Bhim, why is it troubling some people.”