Use of unch, neech terms don’t look good: Narendra Modi to Sonia Gandhi

Raking up the caste issue, Narendra Modi today charged Congress with starting the politics of “untouchability and hatred” and Sonia Gandhi of resorting to “unch aur neech” politics for salvaging the “lost political ground” in the ongoing elections.

“Who started the politics of untouchability in the country?” he asked the people at an election meeting here in favour of BJP candidate Radhamohan Singh. “The same people who do votebank politics had started the politics of untouchability,” he said referring to Congress. “During the entire election process, we have never wavered from development-based politics”, the BJP prime ministerial candidate said charging the Congress president with resorting to ‘unch aur neech’ (high and low) politics.

“Madam you are a party President. You keep using terms like ‘unch’ and ‘neech’, it does not look good,” he said, adding the Congress was trying to “salvage the lost political ground”. “A certain defeat in the elections appears to be troubling Madam Soniaji and she is upset that the Congress’ game of caste and communal politics is coming to an end now,” Modi claimed.

The BJP leader said that a Kerala minister was asked to give an explanation by the state government for meeting him (Modi) and a Congress leader demanded that the Bharat Ratna award conferred on melody queen Lata Mangeshkar be taken back for praising him.

“What type of politics is this?” he asked the Congress and said it does not reflect well of that party when it targets those who praise him and at the same time cast aspersion on him for pursuing ‘neech rajniti’, Modi said referring to Priyanka Gandhi’s barb at him and similar verbal attacks on him by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing large number of youth in the audience, the BJP Prime Minister nominee spoke about the alleged “fraud” played by UPA government on promise of giving employment to youths and talked about number of new measures to create jobs. “Do you want to ruin your future as well like 60 years of your parents were ruined…This government of mother and son has ruined the country… “They have promised to provide employment to 10 crores people in five years between 2009 and 2014. Did the youths get jobs? Did they not play fraud with you? Will you those people who have cheated you? Modi said here.

Modi also took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi for proposing a Japanese financed industrial corridor at Gopalganj yesterday saying, “What can I say about Rahul Bhaiyya after what he said in Gopalganj?” Rahul should have promised to set up leechi based agro-precessing units and sugar mills as Gopalganj and surrounding areas are known for cultivation of leechi and sugarcane, he said. He said the government of ‘mother and son’ had failed the youths of the country by not keeping up its promise to generate ten crore jobs by 2015.

Against the promised ten crore jobs, only about two crore jobs were generated by the ‘maa-bete ki sarkar’ (government of mother and son) in the past one decade, Modi said questioning the UPA government’s moral right to seek another term. Echoing the famous slogan of Subhash Chandra Bose, Modi said, “You give me a strong government, I will give you a strong India.”

Batting for a strong government in the country, BJP’s PM pick said, “Even a five-year old kid prefers to have a strong teacher. Do you want a strong government or not? Modi asked the people to vote in such a manner that a strong and decisive government was formed at the Centre to carry out development which had been negated by the politics of caste, communalism and dynastic politics in the last 60 years. The Gujarat Chief Minister also attacked his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar.

Accusing Kumar of practising the politics of untouchability, he said the Bihar Chief Minister had invited BJP leaders for dinner four years ago and withdrew the invitation at the last minute. The Gujarat Chief Minister was referring to Kumar’s unilateral action to scrap the dinner that he had planned to hold the visiting BJP leaders, including Modi, in June 2010 during the BJP national executive in Patna in retaliation for publication of an advertisement showing the two chief ministers holding each others’ hand.