‘Rambo’ Modi now falls back on Ram

His speech became more controversial since the local BJP unit had put up a huge poster of Ram on the dais from where Modi gave his speech. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley expressed his displeasure with the local unit in Faizabad for putting up such a poster on stage.

‘This is the land of Lord Ram where people believed in pran jaye par vachan na jaye (one may lose life but can not break promise). Can you pardon those who broke their promise?’ Modi asked the crowd. Modi, without talking about the party’s stand on building a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, made several references to Ram while asking people to vote for BJP candidate Lallu Singh from Faizabad seat. Slamming the SP and the BSP, he claimed that are enemies in Lucknow but friends in Delhi. ‘They save the government of maa-beta (Sonia Gandhi-Rahul Gandhi) and in return the Congress had saved them from the CBI. It protects netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) from CBI.’

Taking a jibe at Congress-SP-BSP relationship, he said, ‘They believe in you scratch my back, I scratch yours. The SP and BSP governments wasted several years in settling scores with each other, which led to disastrous law and order situation in the state.’

‘I assure you from Bhagwan Ram’s land, I will fight corruption throughout my life. I have seen poverty, that’s why I have the courage to say this. Even Mahatma Gandhi invoked the name of Ram,’ he said.

He claimed that when Gandhi was asked about his idea of an ideal nation, he said that there should be Ram Rajya. ‘By Ram Rajya, Mahatma meant development for all,’ he clarified. UP chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha said that the EC has sought a report from the Faizabad district magistrate on Modi’s speech and stage backdrop.

Meanwhile, keeping up the heat on Modi, TMC on Monday wrote to Election Commission seeking action against him alleging that he has violated the model code by ‘seeking vote in the name of religion.’ TMC chief Mamata Banerjee renewed her demand for Modi’s arrest. ‘TMC has written today to the EC asking for action against Modi for seeking vote in the name of religion, spreading communal disharmony and breaking the model code of conduct,’ the TMC national spokesperson, Derek O’Brien, said. TMC, he said, has obtained footage of Modi’s rally at Faizabad where along the side his portrait on the main backdrop were visuals of a place of worship.

Addressing an election meeting at Bongaon in North 24 Paraganas district bordering Bangladesh, Banerjee said ‘The person who is talking about racial riots, he has no right to become the PM. He should be sent to jail with ropes tied to his waist. He should be arrested.’