Anand (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a dig at the Congress for claiming to defend the Constitution and mocked the grand old party's fortune which he said bears its reflection in Pakistan's fate.
Addressing a huge public gathering in Anand, Gujarat, the PM said: "Look at the coincidence, today Congress is getting weaker in India. The funny thing is that here Congress is dying and there Pakistan is crying. Now Pakistani leaders are praying for Congress.
"Pakistan is eager to make the 'prince' the Prime Minister. And the Congress is already a fan of Pakistan.This partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed."
He said while Modi has been busy "realising Sardar Saheb's dream of uniting the country, the Congress is busy dividing the country, Congress wants to create fights in the society".
"Before the arrival of Modi, there were 2 constitutions and 2 flags in this country," he said, adding a jibe at Rahul Gandhi without taking his name, "The prince's party Congress and his family members did not allow the Constitution to be implemented in the country.
"The Constitution of India was not applicable in Kashmir. Article 370 was sitting like a wall," he said reminding the audience of the Congress' rule, when the country faced the fate of two Constitutions and two flags one for Jammu and Kashmir and the other for rest of India.
Taking full credit of the abrogation in 2019, Modi said: "This son from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's land demolished Article 370 and paid tribute to Sardar Saheb. Sardar sahab left too early, and the country has suffered a great loss because of him. I have it in my mind that I should try to fulfil Sardar Saheb's dreams.
He targeted the Congress and its "prince" for "dancing with the Constitution on their heads", and said that the partyshould answer: "Why the Constitution was not implemented in all parts of India for 75 years?"
Because of Congress, PM Modi said there were various kinds of tamperings with the Constitution of the country for decades.
Modi said while Congress' decades-long rule was a "reign", Modi's decade has been one of "service to the nation".
"That was the reign, this is the decade of service. Today the whole country is saying with confidence – Modi government once again," said the prime minister to a rousing crowd as he counted his government's achievement since 2014.
"In 2014, when you sent your son from Gujarat to Delhi and ordered him to serve the country, at that time the Prime Minister of the country was a very learned economist. When he left, the country was the 11th largest economy in the world.
"In 10 years, this Gujarati tea seller took the country's economy to the 5th position," he said.
"In 60 years, Congress nationalised the banks, took over the banks and said that banks should be for the poor. Despite nationalizing the banks in the name of the poor, the Congress government could not open bank accounts of crores of poor people in 60 years."
He said: "Modi opened more than 50 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts in 10 years."
"During 60 years of Congress rule, around 60% of the rural population did not have toilets. In 10 years, the BJP government built 100% toilets.
"In 60 years, Congress was able to provide tap water facility to only 3 crore rural households in the country, that is, to less than 20% of the households.
"In just 10 years, the number of houses with tap water has reached 14 crore, that is, 75% of the houses have tap water. The country has seen the rule of Congress for 60 years.
"Now the country has also seen 10 years of service of BJP."
All 26 Gujarat Lok Sabha seats were scheduled to vote on May 7. One of the 26, the Surat seat has been won by BJP uncontested as the Congress' nomination was rejected.
