Oppn wants to get rid of me, I want to get rid of ‘terrorism’: PM

Patna, Mar 3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a strong attack against the opposition parties and accused them of working towards getting rid of him even as he worked towards eliminating “terrorism” from the country.

Addressing an election rally in Patna, Modi said, “The opposition wants to get rid of Modi, I want to get rid of terrorism.”

Saying that “opposition parties had no work left other than to abuse Modi”, he said, “They want to get rid of Modi, but I say let’s join hands to eliminate ‘terrorism’. But their priority is to get rid of Modi. They want to get rid of me, but I say let’s join hands to rid the country of poverty. They want to get rid of Modi, I say, let’s join hands to rid the country of corruption and black money. Let’s join hands to create new opportunities for the youth. I say let’s join hands to rid the country of malnourishment and filth.”

At the Sankalp rally, where he shared the dais with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Modi also launched a scathing attack on the Congress with reference to the recent air strikes against Jaish camps at Balakot across the Line of Control.

Claiming that the questions being raised by the Congress over the air strikes were only pleasing those in Pakistan, he said, “First they asked for evidence of the surgical strikes (in Uri). Now they are demanding evidence of the air strikes by the Air Force. Why are the Congress and other parties working towards destroying the morale of the armed forces?”

Not holding back, the PM said that at a time when the country needed to show that it was standing together against “terrorism”, the opposition had joined hands to condemn the centre’s actions.

“When there was a need to speak in unison against ‘terror’ factories, 21 parties had gathered in Delhi to pass a censure motion against the NDA government at the centre,” he said.

“Instead of increasing the morale of the armed forces, they were doing things that are pleasing the enemy,” he said.

Praising the armed forces for their valour, he said, “This is a new India with a new policy. Now India will not remain silent on the sacrifices of its heroic youths, it will strike back every single time,” he said.

Saying that opposition parties were in such disarray that they had begun a competition to abuse the chowkidar, he said, “your chowkidar is fully alert.”

This is the first time since 2009 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar have shared a dais together. This was PM Modi’s second visit to Bihar in less than a fortnight. He had earlier visited Begusarai in Bihar on February 17 and had launched several projects there.

Modi and Nitish Kumar had last attended a rally together in Ludhiana ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Kumar’s party JD (U) left the NDA in June 2013 and formed a Grand Alliance with the RJD and Congress before the 2015 Assembly elections.

Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA fold in July 2017. On Friday, referring to him as “my friend”, the prime minister greeted the Bihar chief minister on his birthday and praised him for pulling the state “out of the shadows of years of misrule”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)