On Sunday, the ground at Bandra-Kurla Complex was teeming with people. The excitement in the air was that of a rock concert. The crowd, however, was there not to listen to a rock star but to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who, in his trademark baritone, asked the people to ensure that the Congress Party is voted out of power at the Centre in the forthcoming elections.
Lambasting the Congress for perpetuating a culture of “nepotism and corruption”, Modi, said 13,000 teachers were recently recruited in Gujarat without any greasing of palms. The whole process was automated and based on grades in the qualifying exams. “The candidates simply had to upload their details on to a computer and those with the best marks got the call letters,” he said.
Addressing the Mahagarjana Rally here, Modi pointed out that globally, administrators are talking about skill development but the Indian Government’s skill development programme has not grown beyond forming a few committees for its implementation.
In a veiled attack on Rahul Gandhi, he said a Congress party leader was talking about removing corruption in the country when the party’s leaders were themselves stuck in a morass of corruption. “Imagine the valour of the leader. Just when a report on the Aadarsh scam has been made public, the leader is talking about removing corruption,” he said.
Drawing attention to the 12,000 tea vendors who attended the rally, Modi said their presence heralded a change in the country, “I’m told that tea vendors have been given special passes for the rally. In the days to come, the common man is going to become a VIP,” he said.
The tea vendors were among those specially invited for the rally. A separate section, among the audience was earmarked for them.
Alleging that the State Government was disconnecting cable TV connections across Maharashtra to prevent people from watching the rally, Modi said: “You can cut cable wires but you can’t lock up people’s hearts”. Addressing over four lakh supporters, Modi said though the Centre had earmarked special funds for 90 districts with a sizable population from the minority community, no money was spent from those funds.
Comparing Maharashtra with Gujarat in terms of development, he said in the border areas of the States, the villages on the Maharashtra side were in darkness due to power cuts while those in Gujarat had electricity. The same was true of the revenue collections at the check-posts. The revenue collected in Gujarat was Rs 1,000 crore higher than Maharashtra.
Modi urged the people to vote for change for the larger good of the nation.