PM Modi targeted the entire opposition over no-confidence motion

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday targeted the entire opposition, questioning the motive behind the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Addressing a Kisan Kalyan Rally in Shahjahanpur on Saturday afternoon, Modi said the people of the country trusted him and his government but some political parties did not.

“On Friday I asked them in Parliament the reason for moving the no-confidence motion against my government but when they failed to give it they ended up giving an unwanted hug,” Modi said, referring to Rahul Gandhi’s embrace in Lok Sabha on Friday.

“‘Jab karan nahi bata paye, to gale pad gaye’ (when they could not give the reason for bring the no-confidence, they embraced me), he said, adding that as long the people of the country and the Constitution of Dr BR Ambedkar were with him, no one could do anything against him.

Asserting that his fight against corruption and dynastic politics would continue, the Prime Minister said the opposition parties were annoyed with the National Democratic Alliance government and him in particularly as the government’s decisions and actions had badly hit their corrupt practices and dynastic politics. 

“The shops of these corrupt leaders have closed down after the government went for DBT (direct benefit transfer) and deposited Rs 90,000 crore in the farmers’ accounts,” he said.

Hitting out at the opposition parties, Modi said they were running after the prime minister’s chair, ignoring the poor, the youth and the farmers. 

“But the scenario of the country has changed now and the youths are not ready to accept any force against them and they will lead the country to a new India in 2022 when the situation of the country will change with jobs for youths and education, health and good agricultural prices for farmers,” he said.

Modi did not spare the Samajwadi Party and  the Bahujan Samaj Party for their proposed alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls against the BJP. 

“The people are with the Bharatiya Janata Party and we are not concerned if they run cycle or ride on elephant,” he said, adding that the coming together of many parties against the BJP would only make the ground for the ‘lotus’ bloom .

“If one dal (party) is added to another dal, then it becomes dal-dal (marshy land) which is favourable for ‘kamal’ to blossom,” he said.

Addressing the rally at Roza Railway grounds in the presence of several Union ministers, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and state ministers, Modi listed the key decisions taken by the Central as well as the UP government for the welfare of farmers. 

“You will get all the profit for the sugarcane you grow. A minimum support price has been fixed for sugar so that there is no scam,” he said, while blaming the previous governments for the woes of the sugar industry and the mounting arrears of cane farmers. 

“We are trying to remove the obstacles that the previous governments had placed. We have decided to deposit money directly in the bank accounts of farmers. Earlier, this was given to sugar mills, but we said no,” the PM said, criticising the opposition parties which ruled in the past for lacking pro-farmer intentions.

The PM also said that for the first time the government had decided to allow mills to produce ethanol from molasses and sugarcane juice from December 1 and this would give extra revenue to the sugar mills and the country would also save money to some extent in purchase of petroleum products as ethanol would be mixed with it.

Talking about the delayed irrigation projects in the country, he said farmers had the power to make gold from soil if they got water and electricity. 

On electrification of villages during the NDA regime, Modi said: “When we electrified villages, some parties started holding meetings and speaking against us. They said ‘gaon main gayi, ghar main nahin gayi’. I want to ask, if electricity did not reach village homes for 70 years, are the previous governments not responsible for it?”

He also paid his condolence to the great freedom fighters of the area.

Earlier, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lambasted the opposition for bringing the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the NDA government. He said defeat of the motion with absolute majority was an indication that after the 2019 polls, the BJP led by PM Modi would form government again with absolute majority and establish India as a superpower.

The Chief Minister said the state had made a record by procuring 53 lakh metric tonnes of wheat this season and the government had given over one lakh crore rupees to around 2.35 crore farmers as price of their agricultural produce during the past one year. 

The rally was also addressed by BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey who said that Modi was the most popular person among the youths, the farmers and other people of the country. 

Union ministers Maneka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar and Krishna Raj along with UP ministers Suresh Kumar Khanna, Surya Pratap Shahi and others were also present in the rally.

After reaching out to voters in Azamgarh, Mirzapur and Varanasi last week, Modi addressed the rally in Shahjahanpur, the biggest wholesale grain market and also a prominent cane growing district in UP which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. This was his third visit to the state in less than a month. Farmers in large numbers from adjoining districts such as Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Sitapur, Bareilly and Budaun attended the rally.

Saturday’s rally was Modi’s first public address after leading his party to victory in the no-confidence motion moved by the TDP.