Cong divisive, Sonia can max save deposits: Modi

In a campaign that has become both personal and vitriolic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a swipe at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s late entry into the battle of Karnataka and said this could at best help the Congress save its “deposit”.

Addressing election rallies in Koppala and Vijayapura,  Modi blasted the Congress and its divisive politics.

Modi said he had on Monday watched an interview of a Congress leader who said that the son (Congress president Rahul Gandhi) “will not be able to do anything”. “If you bring the mother (Sonia) to Karnataka and she does something, then maybe the deposits can be saved. This is what Congress leaders have started speaking,” Modi said at a rally in Vijayapura before Sonia addressed a rally there.

Invoking Lord Basaveshwara in this Lingayat stronghold, Modi said, “Bhagwan Basaveshwara conveyed that everyone should be taken along. This Congress Government is dividing communities, castes, voters... divide and rule, pit one against the other. They want to save their chair. But Congress leaders do not know this is the land of Bhagwan Basaveshwara. It is not going to be divided into communities and will not accept division among brothers. They will remove the Congress but will not allow poison of casteism.”

Accusing the Congress of doing nothing to address farmers’ woes in the State, the PM said, “What has the Congress done for the farmers of Karnataka? When the State was suffering due to droughts, Ministers handling key portfolios were busy in Delhi doing politics.”

He also highlighted the Centre’s social security schemes, farmer welfare initiatives and progress of electrification work which immensely benefitted people across the country.

On women’s security, PM Modi assailed the Congress saying, “The Congress has never been serious about the safety of women. It is the NDA Government that has got a tough law that will ensure safety of women.” Further attacking the Congress for not letting Parliament clear the Triple Talaq Bill, he said, “It is the Congress party that did not allow the law on Triple Talaq to be passed. How is the Congress even talking about women empowerment?”

Addressing a rally at Koppala, Modi said, “Protecting the girl child is our commitment. We believe in the mantra of ‘beta beti ek samaan’. We only have one mantra, ‘sabka-saath sabka-vikas’. But on the other hand, there is a party that ruled for 60 years out of the 70 years of the Independence. But they only run and oust the Government for their family.”

Remembering young girl Mallamma, Modi said, “That two years back, I had referred to a young girl Mallamma from Koppal during my Mann Ki Baat. I am glad she took the Swachchhata drive with great zeal and today several women are leading the cleanliness drive across the country.”

“Cleanliness is related to the dignity of a woman. Our women have to defecate in the open. They go outside before the sun rise and wait for the sun to set to go the next time,” he said, adding, “When I had spoken about Swachchh Bharat and building toilets from the Red Fort, the ‘naamdaars’ mocked me. But how will the man born with a golden spoon in his mouth know the problems faced by our old mothers? We are poor people and only we understand this problem.”

“I will recount another sin of the Congress party for you. As you know, the sex ratio is unbalanced in a lot of districts in our country. As the trend to kill female foetus continued unabated, the Congress Governments only snoozed. We have started schemes so that this pit is filled and the number of females matches the number of male children in our society,” he added.

“These people have done nothing for the protection of women, whereas our Government has brought in a strict law to give death sentence to those who do such devilish deeds with our daughter,” claimed Modi.

On farm sector he said, “We are committed to welfare of farmers. We have decided to increase MSP of notified crops by 1.5 times. We have brought the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Farmers in Karnataka have hugely benefited from the scheme.”