Directly wooing the Jat belt which has been aggrieved since violence engulfed Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring districts in western Uttar Pradesh last year, Narendra Modi told this predominantly farming community that Choudhary Charan Singh had steadfastly opposed the Congress for its anti-farmer policies and fought for their rights. In back-to-back meetings in the districts of Baghpat and Amroha which contribute a good number of jawans to the armed forces, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial contender said that under the Congress, all traces of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ have been removed from the nation’s political culture and there is no respect for either.
Neither jawans nor kisans are safe in India today, he lamented. On the one hand, the Congress shamelessly plays with the sentiments of veterans by promising ‘One rank one pension’ as many as six times, without implementing this legitimate demand, which Atal Bihari Vajpayee would have ensured had he returned to power in 2004, Narendra Modi said, implying that the BJP would this on coming to power. At the same time, the jawans who guard our borders are unsafe, he said, and marauders from Pakistan come and chop off their heads; the head has still not been recovered, he thundered, and this has demoralised the armed forces. Yet the Prime Minister of Pakistan comes to visit and is feted with ‘chicken biryani’ because the UPA does not have the guts to tell him that this is not an opportune time to visit India.
As the crowds chanted his name in adoration, the Gujarat strongman said that Meerut region has a long history of sacrifice for the nation. In 1857 it fought the British with the symbols of ‘kamal aur roti’, in the Kargil war 14 jawans from here made the ultimate sacrifice for the motherland, and now it is battling the Congress with the symbols of ‘kamal and Modi’. As the ground reverberated with new slogans in adulation, the scuttling of “har har Modi” which drew the ire of some persons was rendered obsolete, for there is no denying that the BJP campaign is a one-horse show.
Touching the raw nerves of farmers in this sugarcane belt, Narendra Modi engaged in his trademark interactive banter and asked if the sugarcane farmers were getting their dues; why not; and “who ate the sugar?” Who, he thundered, is responsible if the farmer does not have enough to eat, and should such a government stay?
As the gathering roared in agreement, the BJP veteran said, “we respect Choudhary Charan Singh and follow his path, but his own son has left the path of the father and gone and sat in the lap of the party that harassed the father; satta sukh ke liye jo pita ke adarsho ko chod dete hain…’ Gently mocking Ajit Singh’s aviation portfolio, he added, “Let him fly in planes, Baghpat does not need these hawai neta, dharti ka neta chahiye…” If Baghpat had got a leader attached to his roots, it would not have so many problems, he said. The farmer suicides in India far exceed the deaths of soldiers in war or victims of terrorism. The Congress-led Government at the Centre, however, is neither pained when jawans die nor concerned when farmers die.
The road from Meerut to Haridwar is a vital artery of the region, Narendra Modi said, and it is astonishing that the Government of India has never thought of developing Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, and Gautambudh Nagar as the capital’s satellite towns on the pattern of New York and New Jersey. All that is needed is fast train connectivity, he pointed out, and people would prefer to settle there and lesson the burden on Delhi.
Directly addressing the sensitive issue of women’s safety (which reputedly triggered the violence last year), Narendra Modi attacked the parties that were obsessed with vote-banks and reaping advantage from inter-caste and inter-community conflicts. As a result, mothers and sisters have become unsafe and cannot get out of the home because miscreants (sarphiras) humiliate them, as a result of which parents have to hang their heads in shame. He berated the six decades of vote-bank politics in the country, as a consequence of which “izzat lootti chali jaye…” Pressing home the point, he told the loudly appreciative gathering that precisely to save the honour of women, the BJP has made a seasoned policeman, “manjha hua police wala” the candidate from Baghpat (former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh).
Dismissing the challenge from the Congress, the SP, BSP and the Congress paratrooper (Ajit Singh), Narendra Modi said it was time to give the family-based parties the boot and invigorate Indian politics with new energy (loktantra ki nayi urja). Assuring that the BJP would soon lead the Government at the Centre, he said Baghpat must ensure that it also sends “one kamal” to Delhi, a subtle hint that the candidate may have a rosy future in the capital.
The Congress shehzade, he concluded, as the crowds went into raptures, recently told the media that “Modi is not a person, but an ideology”. Narendra Modi said he was glad to be born of an ideology that put the nation before self, and taught one to live and die for the country.
At Amroha, Modi attacked the lack of agro-industries and no value addition in agriculture which forced the younger generation to migrate for employment. A sincere Government, he said, would have exerted itself to take the famous Amroha mango to the international market.
Condemning the Congress vice president for tearing up a Government Ordinance in public and forcing the regime to change its policy on an issue (of saving convicted law-makers from being disbarred from Parliament), Narendra Modi said he (Rahul) cannot take the attitude that he has no responsibility for the UPA’s sins of omission and commission. The ‘shehzade’ the Gujarat leader said, will have to explain the inability to control the price rise and to give employment to the youth.
He insisted that he would not let the Congress evade responsibility for every crisis by hiding behind the mask of secularism. This is a vote-bank gimmick, a divisive tactic, whereas for the BJP, secularism is the road to development and unity of communities. The Congress attitude of ‘appeasement for few and justice for none’ contrasts sharply with the BJP position of ‘appeasement for none and justice for all’, Narendra Modi said, concluding by appealing to the people to return BJP candidates from all 80 seats from Uttar Pradesh.
Niticentral.com, 29 March 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/03/29/modi-invokes-lost-legacy-of-jai-jawan-jai-kisan-205314.html