Jaipur, Apr 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that the corrupt will have to go to jail and that he will not be deterred by any threats.
Addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Karauli ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Modi hit out at the previous Congress-led state government over recruitment exam paper leaks, saying the party is steeped in corruption and found opportunities to loot even in jobs for the youth.
He once again hit out at the Congress over the Katchatheevu island issue and said that not only the party's history but its intentions are also dangerous.
The prime minister said strict action is being taken against the corrupt across the country, including Rajasthan, and this is why the opposition has formed the “INDI alliance” against him.
“On one side there is Modi, who says remove corruption. On the other side are those who say save the corrupt. All these people who have set out to save the corrupt listen carefully, no matter how many threats you give to Modi, the corrupt will have to go to jail. This is Modi's guarantee,” he said.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are not about who will become an MP and who will not.
“This election is about giving a new energy to the resolve for a ‘Viksit Bharat',” he said.
Attacking the Congress, Modi said the party played a dirty game of appeasement for votes in Rajasthan.
“Congress leaders demolished temples and took over their lands. Stones were pelted on a Ram Navami procession here,” he said.
The ‘shehzada' (prince) of the Congress goes abroad and says that India is not a nation and demands proof if India conducts a surgical strike, the prime minister said without naming anyone.
Modi also targeted Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for asking why the prime minister talked about the abrogation of Article 370, which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, during a rally in Rajasthan's Churu.
He said Kharge should go to the homes of the brave martyrs of Rajasthan and ask this.
“The soil of their villages will tell (you) what relation Rajasthan has with Kashmir. The heroes of Rajasthan have made sacrifices on the soil of Kashmir,” Modi said.
“This is the same Congress which had given Katchatheevu, an Indian island near Tamil Nadu, to Sri Lanka,” he added.
The Modi government has targeted the Congress, accusing it of overlooking national interests by ceding the Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in the mid-1970s.
Modi slammed senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh over his remarks on the Katchatheevu issue.
“The Congress is shamelessly justifying anti-national misdeeds. Yesterday, a Congress leader asked, ‘does anyone live there?'. If someone does not live then should it be given away? Then what will you call the desert? For them, a vacant part of the country is just a piece of land,” he said.
“Tomorrow, these Congressmen can give the vacant land of a border state like Rajasthan to any country,” he said.
“Not only the history of the Congress but its intentions are also dangerous,” he added.
Modi said the Congress raised the slogan of ‘Garibi Hatao' for decades but it was he who worked to bring 25 crore people out of poverty.
The Congress, which is steeped in nepotism and corruption, seeks profit in people's compulsions. It found opportunities to loot even in jobs for the youth and a paper leak industry flourished under the patronage of its government in Rajasthan, the PM said.
Modi said every moment of his life is dedicated to the country.
“Every moment in your name, every moment in the name of the country and that is why I say, 24X7 for 2047,” he said.
“Modi was not born to rest or have fun. Modi works hard because Modi has very big goals connected to the people of the country,” he said.
“How many generations have passed under the negligence of the Congress? Today, the son of the poor has been the ‘pradhan sevak' for 10 years and the poor have got freedom from their problems,” he said.
The government launched the Millet Mission and the demand for this superfood is growing globally. The farmers of Rajasthan will also benefit from this, Modi said.
