Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday ended his over a month-long high-octane political campaign with a rally in Punjab. In his last rally, he asked the opposition to make no mistake in understanding him as he can disclose "sins of their seven generations". Modi's fierce attacks and sharp words have been a running highlight of his campaign, which ended on Thursday. Punjab votes in the last lap on June 1.
In Punjab, the Prime Minister highlighted his government's efforts to modernise the army and make it the most capable and self-reliant. He accused the INDIA bloc leaders of using the armed forces as a political weapon and said there can be no bigger sin. The armed forces are raised to be battle-ready and not for parade, he said.
Modi hit back at opposition leaders for criticising the 'Agnipath' scheme, a programme for short-term recruitment into the armed forces, and seeking to gain's voters' support with its promise to scrap it. "I want to tell INDI Alliance leaders. I am silent but you should not make a mistake in understanding Modi... 'Modi jis din muh kholega to tumhari saat pidhi ke paap nikaal ke rakh dunga' (The day Modi opens his mouth, he will bring out the sins of your seven generations)," he said.
"You abuse Modi as much you want but Modi will not tolerate this insult to my country's armed forces," he said. Targeting the Aam Aadmi Party, which runs the government in Punjab, the prime minister compared it to an infant who "stole" the nurse's ring the moment he was born. It turned out that the infant's father was a big thief, he said, and linked the AAP to the Congress saying the latter has given birth to corruption in the country.
"It took the Congress 60 years to do a PhD in corruption but they (AAP) are born corrupt," he said.
The high-octane campaigning for the final phase of Lok Sabha elections in 57 seats ended Thursday evening. Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh on June 1.
Prime Minister Modi, who is seeking a third consecutive term from Varanasi, had 206 public outreach programmes, including rallies and roadshows, since the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha election schedule on March 16.
On the final day, the Prime Minister, while addressing a rally at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, attacked the Congress for "ranting" about the Constitution when it was the one that "strangled" it during the Emergency and not care about it when Sikhs were killed in the 1984 riots. At the rally, he also touched upon the issues of reservation, corruption and the Ram Temple.
In West Bengal, PM Modi took out a rally in Kolkata on Tuesday in support of candidate for Kolkata Uttar seat Tapas Roy. The BJP while campaigning alleged the Mamata government was involved in many scams related to coal and cattle smuggling, and irregularities in school recruitment among other issues. It also alleged how the state government was not implementing the welfare schemes of the Centre and depriving the common people of their benefits.
(With inputs from PTI)