PM: Oppn loses heart when India succeeds

Aalo: In the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is going to simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha elections on April 11, Narendra Modi pitted BJP’s “vikaas” against Congress’s “corruption”.
Saying the Congress is “synonymous with corruption”, Modi said the country needs a “chowkidar” who can protect the country.

“When the country achieves something significant, don’t you feel happy? Everyone, irrespective of their social or financial standing, celebrates India’s success stories. There are, however, some who feel disheartened by India’s growth and success,” Modi said.

Slamming opposition parties for questioning the validity of BJP’s claims, Modi said, “When India hit terrorists in their own backyard, what was the opposition’s stand? When our scientists made significant advances, they found excuses to belittle those achievements.” He added, “The opposition speaks the language of terror groups and supported another neighbour at a time when India was working hard to protect its territory,” in what is being considered a tacit reference to China.

“For Arunachal, any modern infrastructure was only a distant dream for 55 years. The Congress’s dynastic rule could never have achieved that,” he said.

On Modi’s list of things that have taken off in Arunachal under BJP rule were air connectivity, railway lines, power connection, gas connection and toilets.

“Our government has honoured your hopes and aspirations. This chowkidar was given the opportunity to bring Arunachal on the country’s railway map after seven decades of Independence ... Air connectivity projects have also gained momentum in the state under the NDA rule, with the construction of several Advance Landing Grounds and airports ... We provided power connections to 50,000 families, gas connections to 40,000 women and built toilets for more than 1 lakh families in the last five years,” he said.

Finally, he appealed to the sentiments of the people in the northeast: “People laughed at me when I wore tribal hats and other traditional attire when I visited the northeast. To them, there are tribal outfits. To me, these signify the rich culture and traditions of the northeast.”