Tezpur/Barpeta, April 8: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took a potshot at Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, saying he had stopped smiling after the first phase of polls.
"You must have seen that the Assam chief minister has stopped smiling after the first phase. He is now inviting Congress leaders from Delhi to save him. But how can the Congress leaders save Gogoi ji when they could not save Delhi?" he said, referring to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Modi addressed four rallies in lower Assam and asked the electorate to decisively vote for the BJP in the second and final phase of polls on Monday if they wanted a prosperous and progressive Assam. He started the day by addressing a rally at Raha in Morigaon district, followed by Rangiya in Kamrup district, Barpeta and finally Guwahati.
The Prime Minister said this election in Assam was not a ballot to decide who will win but to decide the future of Assam. "You (the people) will have to decide whether you want to run fast or be slow. You gave 15 years to the Congress. Has anything happened for the better?" he said, adding that 40 per cent households in Assam were yet to get electricity.
He asked the people not to get misled by "lies and rumours". "It is your duty to counter them by going to every household and not be misled by them. If by chance an unstable government is formed in Assam, forces trying to break the country will try to benefit from it."
Modi expressed confidence that the BJP and its allies, under the leadership of Sarbananda Sonowal, would form a new government in Assam and there would be " ananda" (happiness) everywhere.
Taking a jibe at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had yesterday said that the UPA government believed more in work than mere talk, Modi said, "What he said was true and the scams of his period have started speaking now."
"Manmohan ji ne kaha ki zubaan se zyada kaam bolta hain aur ab toh aapka kaam bolne laga hai. Yeh toh sach hain ki paap bolte hain aur ab toh parche khulne lage hain aur sab pareshan hain (Manmohanji had said that work speaks more than words and now your work has started speaking. It is true that sins speak and now the results of misdeeds are out and everyone is disturbed)," he said.
Taking another dig at Singh, Modi said the nation had suffered enough from "backseat driving" and asked the people not to hand over the "remote control" into anyone's hands.
Raising the Saradha scam for the first time in Assam poll campaign, Modi said the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana had been launched to ensure that such fraud does not take place in future. "The poor went to chit funds because they did not have access to the banks. My government stopped them from going to chit funds by allowing them to open zero-balance bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana," he told the rally.
He said while the Congress leaders were serious only about their own children, the BJP was considering the future of all children of the state. "The people of the state want a BJP government for better education, health facility and improved road communication," he said.
Countering the Congress's allegations of funds cut with non-utilisation of funds, Modi said his government had allocated financial packages to the NC Hills and Karbi Anglong autonomous councils in the state but was in the dark about the utilisation of the funds. "NC Hills received Rs 200 crore and Karbi Anglong Rs 350 crore," he said.
Modi today invoked Bhupen Hazarika's name in his speeches at the rallies.
Muktiram Hazarika of Puranigudam who came to the rally at Raha, said, "A huge gathering tells a lot about the change which people of a state seek. We hope the BJP comers to power."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KISHORE TALUKDAR IN BORJHAR AND PANKAJ SARMA IN GUWAHATI
