Sivasagar (Assam): BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Monday addressed back-to-back rallies in Congress strongholds in upper Assam, drawing large crowds in each of them and attacking Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
A day after the Congress president had questioned the patriotism of the BJP, Modi raked up the Italian marines case and asked: “Who in Delhi did make arrangements for the return of the marines to Italy after they had killed two fishermen in Kerala? Madam Sonia has questioned our patriotism. Do we have to go to Madam Sonia to take tuitions on patriotism? Do we have to take certificate for our patriotism from her?”
Modi claimed that it was only after the Supreme Court stepped in that the marines were brought back to India. “But even then, can Madam Sonia tell the nation in which jail they are lodged now? Don’t even dare to question our patriotism,” the BJP’s leader said.
Addressing rallies at Sivasagar, Biswanath Chariali and Gogamukh that fall under Jorhat, Tezpur and Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituencies respectively, he predicted a “tsunami” in favour of BJP that would wipe out Congress from the electoral scene.
It was not the BJP but the Congress that spread hatred and cultivated poison in the country, Modi said, “Remember, in Jaipur AICC special conclave where coronation of the prince (Rahul Gandhi) was organised, Rahul Gandhi said that morning his mother (Sonia Gandhi) told him that power was poison. If power is poison then it is the Congress which possesses the entire poison after being in power for 55 years.”
Addressing his third rally of the day at Darbar field located in a minority-dominated area in Sivasagar town, Modi said: “Wherever I have gone today I have seen unprecedentedly large gathering of people. It gives the strong indication about the way wind is blowing. This is not just wind, but a storm that will become a tsunami after the polls are over.”
“This tsunami will spare no one who has looted the resources of the country. The people of India are very angry and fed up with Congress because it has betrayed them. It is the first election in the country where results are out even before the poll dates were declared,” Modi said.
“All along, Congress had been opposed to the efforts to bring back black money deposited in foreign bank by Indians because it was their money. Now in their election manifest Congress has promised to bring back black money. It is not their poll manifesto but a document of betrayal ,” Modi said.
Coming down heavily on the Tarun Gogoi government in Assam, Modi said, “Recently, 15 people were killed in the neighbourhood (Behali near Biswanath Chariali), but neither the Chief Minister nor Congress leaders went there.”