Vijayapura (Karnataka), May 8 (IANS) Accusing the Congress of destroying the country to promote a dynasty, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and said the party was now getting destroyed while trying to save that dynasty (Nehru-Gandhi family).

“One thing is clear — the Congress destroyed the nation in promoting a dynasty. Today, to save that dynasty, the Congress is getting destroyed,” he said at a rally here.

Modi also targeted the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the poll-bound state, saying there was “not even a single Minister who has not faced allegations of corruption”.

The Prime Minister accused the Congress of trying to gain votes by seeking to divide communities.

He claimed that the Congress was spreading lies on the issue of women’s security and said that a daughter is a daughter, irrespective of the community she belongs to.

“Whether a daughter is of a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Christian, a daughter is a daughter. Whichever community or religion she belongs to, a daughter should be respected or not? She should get security or not?” he asked.

The Prime Minister also accused the Congress of not supporting the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha.

“I am surprised. The Congress steeped in vote bank politics is giving lectures and, on the other hand, Muslim women are asked to leave houses after triple talaq. We brought a bill on triple talaq. The Congress did not allow it to be passed in Parliament,” he said.

Referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, he said the opposition party was in such a situation that their leaders did not have faith in their ‘naamdar’ (dynast) leader.

In an apparent reference to United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s rally at Vijayapur during the day, he said that Congress leaders were now saying that if she canvasses in the state, it can at least save the security deposits of Congress candidates.

Modi said he had on Monday watched an interview of a Congress leader who said that the son (Congress President Rahul Gandhi) “will not be able to do anything”.

“If you bring the mother (Sonia) to Karnataka and she does something, then maybe the deposits can be saved. This is what Congress leaders have started speaking,” Modi said.

Modi referred to Vijayapura as the birth place of Lord Basaveshwara, a 12th century social reformer and philosopher who founded the Lingayat religious tradition, and targeted the Siddaramaiah government over its move to recommend minority community status for the Lingayats in the southern state.

He said Lord Basaveshwara’s message was against divisions of caste and community but the state government had got into a habit of working against his message and of forgetting his words.

“Bhagwan Basaveshwara conveyed that everyone should be taken along. This Congress government is dividing communities, castes, voters… divide and rule, pit one against the other. They want to save their chair. But Congress leaders do not know this is the land of Bhagwan Basaveshwara. It is not going to be divided into communities and will not accept division among brothers. They will remove the Congress but will not allow (spread of) the poison of casteism,” Modi said.

Without taking names, Modi targeted state Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil and said: “Here, everyone knows about how contracts are awarded, how bundles of notes were found in the almirahs of contractors.”

He said Bharatiya Janata Party’s philosophy was inspired by the teachings of saints of Karnataka and it was seeking votes in the name of development.

Modi said lakhs of people in Karnataka had benefitted from his government’s schemes on cooking gas connections and electricity connections.

The Prime Minister announced steps for the benefit of local farmers, including a food processing unit and agri-hoticultural unit, and Rs 2-lakh insurance for landless labourers.

–IANS
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