Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing an election rally. (file photo)
As the battle for Uttar Pradesh is set to enter the final two legs of polling, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged victorious in the last five phases and that the remaining two will be a bonus for the party. “People have made BJP victorious in the 5 phases that took place, you only have to give us a bonus in the 6th and 7th phase,” said PM Modi while addressing a rally in Maharajganj.
WATCH VIDEO | Coconut Juice Or Pineapple: Watch How PM Modi Got Rahul Gandhi’s Quote Wrong
He added that the people of the state would take revenge against those who looted Uttar Pradesh in the last 15 years. “I started Swachh Bharat Abhyan across India, but people of UP took it to another level by cleaning all dirt from politics in the state,” he said. Sharpening his attack against the Samajwadi Party and Congress, the prime minister said their alliance would spell doom for the progress of the state. “One has expertise in ruining the country, other has expertise in ruining UP. What will happen if they come together?” he said. Quoting from a report on socioeconomic indicators in Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi said that “life in Uttar Pradesh is short and uncertain”, resembling Sub-Saharan Africa. “The Uttar Pradesh government website says ‘life in UP is short and uncertain’, in this respect it resembles Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
PM Modi also targeted Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his “Make in Manipur” pitch. “A Congress leader recently said in Manipur that he would extract juice from coconuts and sell it in London. Even a child from the poorest of the poor family would know that a coconut gives water, not juice,” he said. Commenting on the GDP growth rate numbers, PM Modi hit out at renowned economist Amartya Sen, saying the country has seen what the thought process of those from Harvard University was like. “On one side we have those speaking about Harvard and on the other we have children from poor families working hard towards pushing the economy of this country,” he said.
Sen was critical of the government’s demonetisation drive that lead to the scrapping of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. The country’s GDP figures for the third quarter raised eyebrows among economists as the economy slowed down just by 0.4 per cent from the previous quarter. The figures released by Central Statistics Office overshot even the most generous estimates made by a few experts.
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