For Congress, Tribals Vote Bank: Modi

Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that a BJP storm, created by the groundswell of support for the party in Madhya Pradesh, will blow away the Congress in the state in the November 17 elections.

Addressing an election meeting in Shajapur in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Modi said that he has been moving around the state in the past few days and has noticed tremendous support from people for the BJP.

“The public trust seen in the BJP is amazing. Those making electoral calculations while sitting in Delhi hardly understand the ground situation. A BJP storm, created by people’s tremendous support for the party, will uproot the Congress in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

Mr Modi said that, as per the reports from various parts of the state, the Congress has accepted the defeat and left it to its fate.

“The Congress has accepted that its false promises cannot withstand the onslaught of Modi’s guarantees,” he said, adding, “The Congress is not even in the race in this poll in Madhya Pradesh”.

Mr Modi said that the looming defeat in the polls has frustrated the Congress leaders. Therefore, they have started threatening the government officers in the state.

Mr Modi assured the people that the BJP will retain power in the state in the ensuing Assembly polls and there is no need for them to be scared of any intimidation by the Congress leaders.

Attacking the grand old party, Mr Modi said that the Congress used to say that it was not possible to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and ban triple talaq. The party used to challenge the BJP to declare a timeline for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

“All these things are done. They (the Congress) don’t know what material Modi is made of,” he said.

In an indirect dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for saying that his party, if voted to power in MP, will replace made-in-China mobile phones with made-in-Madhya Pradesh sets, the Prime Minister said that the Congress leaders could not notice the achievements made by the country in the recent past.

Mr Modi said that during the Congress regime, the mobile phone manufacturing sector was worth `20,000 crores, which has now grown to `3.5-lakh crores. The country currently exports mobile phones worth `1-lakh crores.

He was responding to the speech made by Mr Gandhi in Harda in MP on Monday, pledging to replace "made-in-China’ mobile phones with "made-in-Madhya Pradesh" sets if his party returns to power in the state.

Mr Modi said that there was a record sale of products manufactured in India this Diwali. Products worth around `3.45-lakh crores were sold in the country during the festival.

Earlier, the country used to import products related to the Diwali festival worth `1.5-lakh crores. This is one of the success stories of the "vocal for local" policy of the Centre, he said.

He attacked the Congress, saying that the party is trying to regain its ground by making false promises to the people.

When there was the opportunity for the Congress to do something, the party indulged in corruption and nepotism, he said, adding that the grand old party is now identified with corruption, appeasement (of minorities), hooliganism, and communal riots.

"Wherever the Congress goes, it brings destruction in its wake. The Congress can only offer hostility, despair and negativity,” he said.

Mr Modi said that the Congress has only treated tribal communities as a votebank and has done nothing for them.

But the BJP has undertaken several measures for the welfare of the community and their recognition at the national level.

He said that tribal children were suffering from malnutrition during the Congress regimes. But the Congress leaders used to take pictures with the malnourished tribal children to hog the limelight.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister also addressed election rallies in Betul and Jhabua in the state.

In Jhabua, he said that it was his last election meeting in the state ahead of the November 17 Assembly elections.

Later in the evening, Mr Modi held a massive roadshow in Indore.

People were seen showering flower petals on him when his cavalcade passed through the colonies in Indore city. Slogans praising him were greeted all along the route of his roadshow.