VASCO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that Congress should apologise to the country for making false claims about the Electronic Voting Machines after the Supreme Court held that EVMs have strengthened India’s democracy. Speaking at an election rally here in the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency, he also said that Goa was a model of his party’s “saturation approach” to development and welfare.
Speaking before an audience of about 50,000, the PM noted that Goa has witnessed some key developments in his political life. “All my turning points have happened in Goa. The party’s (BJP’s) decision to make me PM was also taken in Goa. My destiny was written in Goa,” Modi said. Seizing on the EVM issue after the Supreme Court on Friday rejected pleas for reviving paper ballots and held that suspicions regarding tampering of the voting machines were unfounded, the PM accused the Congress of spreading lies.
“Whenever they lose election, they blame it on EVMs. They have tried to create suspicion about EVMs,” he said. “The SC has clearly stated that EVMs are good, and elections conducted through EVMs are good, and it has strengthened the democracy,” the prime minister added, asking the audience whether Congress should “apologise or not” over the issue.
“They won’t apologise. They are in the seventh heaven with arrogance. They can go to any extent to defame Modi,” he said. The two phases of the general elections are over, and considering the feedback from the ground and the enthusiasm of voters, there were clear indications that it will be “Phir Ek Bar Modi Sarkar (Modi government once again),” the prime minister said.
The elections were between the ideologies of the BJP-led NDA which is working to fulfil the aspirations of the country’s citizens and believes in the saturation approach, and the “INDI alliance which works for their selfish benefits and families,” he said. In his last speech in Goa, he had spoken about the BJP’s saturation approach, the PM said.
“The saturation approach means `Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, saturation approach means the benefit of government schemes should be provided to all without any differentiation. Goa is the right model of the saturation approach,” he said. In the last ten years, a lot has happened in the country but he will not sit idle, the prime minister said. “Modi is not born to (rest and) enjoy. Modi works day and night. Modi lives your dreams. Your dreams are Modi’s `sankalp’ (resolution),” he said.
He was continuing after doing so much in the last ten years because it was only a trailer, and so much more was to be done, the prime minister said. “You note down Modi Ki Guarantee, in the next year, three crore new pucca houses would be constructed for the poor,” he said, adding that BJP workers should find out those who do not have their own house yet and assure them that after June 4 (the day election results are expected to be announced), they will get a house. Middle-class families living in rented accommodations in the cities will also be given assistance to build their own house, he said. Free medical treatment will be provided to senior citizens above 70 years of age, he added. Congress never thought about fisherfolk and it was his government that created a separate ministry for fisheries and allocated funds for it, the prime minister said.
“We gave Kisan credit cards to fishermen….We will increase the insurance coverage for fishermen,” he said, adding that cultivation of organic seaweed will be encouraged to supplement their income. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Goa was his government’s priority for achieving 100 per cent vaccination, he pointed out. “Any political leader would have thought this benefit should be given to a place where there are 40-50 (Lok Sabha) seats, why bother about Goa which has only two seats. But I knew that if vaccination was completed in Goa, then tourists will start arriving…. No (past) government would have thought so much about Goa,” Modi added.
The government’s new mission “Wed In India” would especially benefit Goa due to its scenic landscape, he said. Congress and its alliance partners were creating negativity, he alleged. “Congress is insulting our Indian Constitution. Its Goa candidate has made a revelation which has exposed the reality of Congress and its hidden agenda that they are not bothered about the Indian Constitution. This is a ploy against the country,” the PM said, referring to Congress’ South Goa candidate Viriato Fernandes’s statement that the Constitution was imposed on Goa after it was liberated from Portuguese rule. Article 370 which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir continued for so long because of this mentality, he claimed.
“INDI alliance is speaking about bringing back Article 370. Will we allow Article 370 to be brought back? Congress is involved in dangerous games to please its vote bank. Congress wants to give one part from SC, ST, OBC reservation to their vote bank. They have started the work in Karnataka,” Modi alleged. He also claimed that the opposition party wanted to impose a 55 per cent tax on people’s wealth. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Goa BJP chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade and the party’s candidates Shripad Naik (North Goa) and Pallavi Dempo (South Goa) were present at the public meeting.