New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Congress of being involved in a global conspiracy to weaken the Indian economy and democracy, and defame its institutions as the opposition party took aim at the Election Commission following its defeat in the Haryana Assembly elections.
As BJP workers revelled in the party’s best-ever electoral performance in Haryana as well as Jammu and Kashmir, Modi delivered a victory speech from its headquarters, asserting that politics of development has prevailed on falsehoods in the northern state. The polls in the Union Territory were a victory of India’s Constitution and democracy, he said. Buoyed by the party’s historic third straight win in Haryana, a first in the state, he launched a vigorous attack on the main opposition party, saying it wants to smear the reputation of respected institutions like the EC, Army and judiciary.
He contrasted the BJP’s repeated wins with the Congress’ inability to retain or even return to power in many states.
Once people throw out the Congress, they do not let it come back. They put ‘no entry’ boards for the Congress, he said. It always thought power was its birthright but it has now been exposed, the Prime Minister said In an apparent attack on Rahul Gandhi, who has been championing the cause of caste census and claiming that the BJP suppresses the deprived sections of society, he said that “those born with a golden spoon want to pit the poor against each other in the name of castes”.
Modi said the Congress tried to incite the farmer community and the youth over various issues. The Congress had made the issues of farmers’ protest and the Agnipath scheme in Haryana its core planks, which helped it in the Lok Sabha elections but apparently failed to find much favour in the Assembly polls.
The message is clear that politics against the interest of the country will not succeed, he said. While complementing the National Conference on its win in Jammu and Kashmir, he noted that the BJP has received the highest vote share there.
Modi said whenever the BJP forms a government in any state, people support it for a long time. It has been in power in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh for over two decades and has repeatedly retained power in many states, he added.
“The Congress rarely comes back to power. It was 13 years ago that it did so in Assam. There are some states where the Congress has not returned to power for four, five or six decades,” he said.