Don't call the nation a beehive, it is humiliating: Modi

Ahmedabad, April 6: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flayed the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre over various issues. He took on the Congress on the 33rd foundation day programme of the BJP.

Modi slammed the UPA government, saying the latter used the CBI as a tool to intimidate the opposition including the BJP but the latter never felt afraid of it. The Gujarat CM, who is being backed by his party as its prime ministerial candidate for the next Lok Sabha polls and was also inducted in the party's central election board, said the Congress used the central investigative agency to harass BJP workers but it could not succeed and never will.

Modi also took a dig at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, saying he was disappointed with the latter's recent speech at the Confederation of Indian Industry. Referring to Gandhi's terming India as a beehive instead of the traditional notion of elephant, Modi said for the Congress the country might be a beehive but for the BJP she was the mother.

He urged the Congress not to humiliate the motherland and asked its leaders to understand the language well before speaking. He also said that the BJP will give reply to each and every insult of the Congress.

Modi said the Congress and the BJP were poles apart and asked the people not to wait for the Congress to mend its ways for such expectation would never be fulfilled. He said the country was facing acute water problem but the rulers of the country were not aware about it. He also asked the Centre to clear the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat quickly.

The Gujarat chief minister praised the BJP, saying the latter came to power within two decades of being born, something which is rare across the globe. He added that the BJP was born to change the fate of crores of Indians. He said he is not power greedy and wanted to serve the people.

BJP president Rajnath Singh was also present on the occasion. He was felicitated by Modi and addressed the audience before the latter took over. He criticised the Congress for targetting Modi even when he has established a high-standard of governance before the country. He said the people of the country will give a befitting reply to all those who demonised Modi, whom he called the most popular leader. The Congress had called Modi Maut Ka Saudagar before the 2007 Gujarat assembly polls but the ploy had backfired.

Singh also slammed the Congress, saying it did little in improving the condition of Indians despite ruling the country for a long period since independence. Rubbishing ideas that a saviour would appear on a horseback or Congress's mocking Modi as one riding a buffalo (signifying Yamraaj or the Lord of Death), Singh said only people from the Congress could emerge on horse, elephant of buffalo. But the real doers will be those who has covered the distance by foot, i.e., the foot soldiers.

Earlier, in an interview to an English news channel while on the way to Ahmedabad, Singh said he was not in the race of the prime ministerial candidate.

OneIndia News