Modi woos UP: ‘Govt schemes are for poor, not for ballot box’

Takes swipe at Cong, Gandhis’ ‘votebank’ politics, asks: ‘Why did poverty rise in UP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Sunday that his government was for the poor and whatever he did would be for the poor. He said his schemes were for the poor and “not for the ballot box”.

“This is a government for the poor. Whatever we do, will be for the poor. I also belong to a poor family and I was born in a house that had no windows. My mother used to cook food on firewood and there would be so much smoke that often we would not be able to see our own mother. I can completely understand that pain of mothers and their children because I have gone through it,” Mr Modi in Ballia as he launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to provide free LPG connections to five crore women belonging to BPL families in the next three years.

He said: “The kitchen of the poor will no longer be filled with smoke — it will be filled with light.”

The Prime Minister also pledged to ensure a better life for the poor during his rule.

“I believe that sche-mes must be formulated for the welfare of the poor and not for the sake of the ballot box. I am not here to sound the poll bugle — that is the work of voters”, he said. Uttar Pradesh is due to hold crucial Assembly elections next year.

Later in Varanasi, he accused Congress governments of the past of pursuing “votebank politics” and took potshots at the Nehru-Gandhi family as he reached out to the numerically-significant Nishad community as he launched solar-powered boats for plying on the Ganga.

“India has launched seven satellites to augment the GPS system. With the kind of politics going on in our country and the massive work being done, it came to our mind that let’s name it (solar-powered boats) after Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay or Syama Prasad Mookerjee (RSS icons) You have already seen how many schemes are named after one family. We also felt tempted to name the project after those who belonged to us. But this Modi is made of different stuff. I named it Navic (boatman). I did not name it after any of my family members or any leader. I have given a name which gives immortality to the fishermen’s community,” Mr Modi said.

In Ballia earlier, he said he had visited Jharkhand a few days ago to launch schemes even though there were no elections due there. “I chose Ballia as LPG connections in UP are the lowest in Ballia”, he said.

The PM further said that Uttar Pradesh had given several Prime Ministers but the number of the poor in the state had only increased. He said the fruits of development had not reached the eastern part of UP.

“UP has given so many Prime Ministers. But why did the poverty levels go on increasing Were there some drawbacks in these policies ” he asked. The PM recalled that an MP from Ghazipur had raised the issue of abject poverty in eastern UP when Jawaharlal Nehru was PM, after which a commission was formed that made several major recommendations. “What happened to those recommendations, only God knows. Fifty years passed since then. One of the recommendations was to connect Ghazipur and Mau by rail. We have decided to construct a rail line to implement that recommendation,” Mr Modi said.

Greeting workers on May Day, the PM said he always appreciated the role of workers in India’s progress and called himself “Labourer No. 1”. The sweat of labourers was the best adhesive to keep society together, he added.

“In this century, our mantra should be — all workers of the world, let’s make the world one. Earlier, people would say labourers of the world unite, but now we should say that labourers should unite the world”, he added.

He said his government initiated the Shram Suvidha Portal to help workers by giving them a labour identity number.

Visiting his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi later, the PM interacted with prominent citizens at the Gyan Pravah Centre for Cultural Studies and Research. He distributed e-rickshaws to beneficiaries and launched a scheme for environment-friendly e-boats at the famous Assi Ghat. The e-boats will not only reduce pollution, but also bring down operational costs, thereby enabling higher incomes for those who earn their livelihoods through such boats on the Ganga.