His remark comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions in West Asia.
While India is powering on as world’s fastest developing nation, “one of our neighbours, which was a supplier of ‘aatank (terrorism)’, is now struggling to procure ‘atta’ (flour),” PM Modi said, alluding to Pakistan, where inflation rate is as high as 20%.
Ourprinciple is nation first,” the PM said, justifying India’s move to disregard international pressure and purchase oil from Russia after the latter’s invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022. “We took this decision in national interest to ensure that people of our country get cheap oil and farmers get adequate fertilisers,” the PM said, adding: “Today, our country has a govt that neither comes under pressure nor bows before anyone.”
It was the PM’s fourth visit to MP in a fortnight. In his last meeting in MP, five days ago, he had attacked INDIA bloc, saying one of its constituents wanted to eliminate India’s nuclear arsenal. On Friday, he alleged that Congress had kept the defence sector weak for decades. “The entire country has seen how they (INDIA bloc) deployed their whole strength so that our Air Force was not strengthened and Rafale fighter jets did not come to the country. Had Congress govt been there, Indian-made Tejas fighter planes would n ot have soared into the skies.”
“This year, India sold arms worth Rs 21,000 crore to other countries … At this moment, the first consign ment of Brahmos is going to the Philippines today. I congratulate all citizens for this,” PM Modi said.
In UP’s Amroha, the PM recalled his visit to Dwarka where he had dived into the sea off the Gujarat coast to perform puja. “Congress leaders had ridiculed me by saying that there was nothing to be worshipped beneath the sea. How can leaders doing politics in the name of Yaduvansh (followers of Lord Krishna) in UP and Bihar align with such people,” he said, a reference to SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav. He added that opposition leaders have “only cheated Dalits and OBC in the name of social justice”.
Attacking the alliance of Akhilesh’s SP & Congress in UP, he said: “Two ‘shehzades’ are busy shooting a film which has already been rejected in UP.” He added that the opposition always goes for “parivarwaad (nepotism), bhrashtachar (corruption) and tushtikaran (communal appeasement) while seeking votes in UP”. Later, addressing a rally in Wardha, without directly naming Rahul, the PM said that Congress knew it wasn’t going to win Lok Sabha polls and so its “yuvraj” was threatening to set the country aflame after the poll results. He was referring to Congress’s claim that “India will be ablaze if Narendra PM Modi gets a third term as prime minister”.
