At his final public meeting before Delhi goes to the polls on February 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday assured voters that he would ensure that the Capital develops with the speed that it deserves to progress, but only if they exercised their franchise in favour of the BJP.

PM Modi promised to build a “world-class” Delhi, which would be “safe and bereft of chaos and violence”, even as he appealed to voters to “punish and send on holiday”, practitioners of “vote-bank politics” and the “politics of selfishness and hate”.

‘Take the right decision’

“This is my second rally after the one in east Delhi on Monday. The support for the BJP is palpable and we all know what is going to happen on February 11 [election result]... This is the first election of the decade and the progress of the country will depend on the decisions the country takes... Today, the Capital has to show the rest of it the way forward. You have to make the right decision on February 8,” he said at the Ramlila Maidan in Dwarka.

“Delhi needs a government that shows the way forward, not one that levels accusations; not a government that complicates matters and creates stumbling blocks... Delhi can never develop with a government that makes excuses, spreads lies and accusations... I have eaten your salt; I will stand by you and do whatever it takes to develop Delhi,” he added.

Making a direct reference to AAP’s flagship Mohalla Clinics, Mr. Modi connected it to the non-implementation of the Centre’s Aayushman Bharat initiative. He attacked the AAP government for allegedly turning a blind eye to the woes of the Capital’s poor.

“In Delhi, there is a government that does not feel anything for you; doesn’t care about you...What a dirty imagination must that government have that it nurses such dastardly motives against the poor of this city. I’m amazed...What is the fault of the poor of Delhi that they have been kept away from the benefits of the Aayushman Bharat scheme?” he demanded. “The merits of this scheme are not about the ₹5 lakh limit. What if a citizen of Delhi gets ill somewhere else? Will the local Mohalla Clinic go to treat him there? If the Aayushman Bharat scheme was implemented in Delhi, even if the beneficiary suffered a heart attack in another city, they would have been able to afford treatment,” he added.

He said the people of Delhi are watching how “politics of selfishness and hate” is being practiced in the city, which has had made them “angry” even as he asked whether those who voted for the AAP in 2015 had “wished for” the government it had become. The development of Delhi according to the “standards of the 21st century” was not only imperative for its own people but for all the citizens of the country, he argued. He also alleged that , further alleging that Delhi needed a government which, when the time came, “strengthened the hand of the nation” instead of one that “weakens it” in front of its opponents.

Talking about illegal colonies, he said: “The seven Lok Sabha MPs that you chose made it possible [conferring ownership rights to residents of unauthorised colonies] because you elected them... All your dreams will continue to come true if you exercise that power in favour of the BJP again... Remember that February 8 is not a holiday but a day to send the practitioners of the politics of hatred on a holiday.”