NEW DELHI: Mincing no words, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a fiery attack against the opposition INDIA bloc, calling its leaders “cowards” who were “scared of Pakistan’s nuclear power”.
While making a veiled reference to a remark recently made by National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, PM Modi said: “The INDIA bloc seems to have leaders who are scared of Pakistan and have nightmares of its nuclear power.”
The remarks come in the backdrop of comments by Abdullah about Pakistan having “atom bombs” and “not wearing bangles”.
The NC leader was responding to Union defense minister Rajnath Singh’s remark that “PoK will be merged with India”.
“If Pakistan does not wear bangles, we will make the country wear these. I knew they did not have food grains. Now, I come to know they do not even have an adequate supply of bangles,” the PM said, during an election rally in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on Monday.
“But, we must look carefully at the opposition which seems to be full of cowards and timid people, who give a clean chit to Pakistan on terrorism, raise doubts on surgical strikes… their Left allies even want our nuclear arsenal to be dismantled,” he said.
In an earlier rally in Hajipur, PM Modi highlighted the significant increase in funds recovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during his tenure compared to the previous Congress regime. He emphasized that the recovered money belonged to the country’s poor and reiterated his commitment to preventing the opposition from giving away reservations to Muslims for vote bank politics.
“I will tell you why they are crying hoarse against the action of agencies like the ED. During the previous Congress regime, the ED seized only Rs 35 lakh, which could be contained in a school bag. Ever since we took over, the agency has recovered Rs 2,200 crore, which would require 70 small trucks to be carried,” said the PM.
Modi said unlike his opponents, who were concerned about promoting their offspring, “I have no ‘waaris’ (successor). The common people are my waaris”.
The PM also accused the opposition parties of “deliberately hurting people’s sentiments by making obnoxious statements about the Ram temple in Ayodhya”.
Speaking on a day when the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections was underway, he urged the people to turn out in large numbers and vote for the NDA to enable the formation of a strong governmen
