Battle between dumdaar BJP and daagdaar Oppn, says PM

New Delhi/Meerut /Rudrapur/Akhnoor: Sounding the poll bugle for the coming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed three rallies in three states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir — and affirmed the BJP-led NDA’s pledge to safeguard the nation’s security and its fight against terrorism while asking people to chose between a “decisive” government and a one with “an indecisive past”.

Continuing his attack on the Congress, the Prime Minister also took on the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh, calling it “mahamilavat” (adulterated), and coined an acronym SARAB (alcohol) from the initial letters of the three regional outfits, urging the people to “stay away from SARAB in the polls for the good health” of UP. All the three parliamentary seats of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and Akhnoor in Jammu and Kashmir — where Mr Modi addressed rallies on Thursday will go to the polls in the first of seven phases on April 11.

The Prime Minister will address a rally at Koraput in Odisha and another in Mahbubnagar in Telangana on Friday.

Mr Modi’s SARAB remarks drew a sharp reaction from the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, with the Congress demanding an apology from him while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused him of spreading the “intoxication of hatred”, saying the Prime Minister didn’t know the difference between sharab and sarab (mirage).

Continuing his attack on the Congress, Mr Modi accused it of raising questions on the valour of the armed forces after the post-Uri surgical strikes in 2016 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and later the airstrikes in Balakot inside Pakistan in February.

The contest is between a “a decisive government and an indecisive past”, Mr Modi said at the BJP’s Vijay Sankalp rally in the western UP town of Meerut, a day after announcing that India had demonstrated the anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite to join an elite club of space superpowers. He had also launched his 2014 campaign from Meerut.

Calling himself the nation’s chowkidar, Mr Modi said: “It was this chowkidar’s government that had the courage to conduct surgical strikes on land, sky and space. India should develop, India should be secure from enemies.” He added that the country was, for the first time, seeing a government that knows how to deliver. He said the battle was between the “dumdaar BJP and the daagdaar Opposition”.

In his third rally of the day at Akhnoor in the Jammu region near the India-Pakistan border, Mr Modi said the terrorists across the border were living in a state of fear. In an apparent reference to the Balakot airstrikes, Mr Modi said those running the terrorist factory across the border were living under constant fear and the terrorists have been forced to think 100 times before sneaking over into this side.

“Those running the terrorist factory across the border are afraid and are living under constant fear. This had happened for the first time that the terrorists are forced to think 100 times to intrude into this side to rattle India,” said the PM.

Mr Modi, who spoke in Dogri first and then switched over to Hindi, said when voters press the button of the EVM on April 11 and choose the lotus, it will not only unnerve the terrorists and their friends within the country but its bang would be heard across the border as well. Attacking Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his “happy World Theatre Day” tweet after the PM’s address to the nation announcing the success of the anti-satellite missile, Mr Modi said: “You all saw how India created history yesterday by achieving a feat in space to ensure we emerge stronger globally and to ensure our safety. But see the kind of funny things people in the Opposition have been saying.”

“It is both worrying and funny... What do you say about someone who does not even know the difference between a theatre set and ASAT (anti-satellite)?” he said.

Playing on the words saboot and sapoot, the Hindi words for proof and good son, Mr Modi attacked the Opposition for seeking evidence of the surgical strikes. “Do we need ‘saboot’ or sapoot... Those who seek evidence are challenging the sapoot.”

Alleging that the Congress’  blood did not boil even after terrorists struck in the heart of Mumbai in 2008, Mr Modi told a rally in Rudrapur that fear was something unknown to the “chowkidar”.

“It is the Congress’ job to cower in fear. The ‘chowkidar’ knows no fear. All he knows is to put up a dour fight,” he said. In a blistering attack on the Congress for offering “dole” to people for votes, he said the party gave the call of “garibi hatao” decades ago and in this election it had nothing new to offer.

Alleging the Congress was the very cause of poverty, he asked people to eliminate the party. “Remove the Congress and poverty will go away automatically,” he said, and asked: “Will you send a party like this back to power?”