Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an aggressive attack on the Congress at a rally in Uttar Pradesh today, accusing the opposition party, which has criticised his government’s currency ban, of attempting to scuttle the fight against corruption.
“Pandit Nehru, your family and party abuse me, but I am here on November 14, your birthday, to complete work left undone from your time,” the Prime Minister said invoking Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first Prime Minister.
PM Modi repeatedly asked the large crowd gathered at his Ghazipur rally to support his decision and bless him in his war against black or undeclared wealth by raising their hands and applauding hard. They did each time he asked, and that, the PM said, was the endorsement of the poor he needed to carry on.
“I will never let anyone loot the money that belongs to the poor of India…Yes, those against me are strong people. But, I will not be scared of them. I will not leave the path of truth and integrity,” he vowed.
The Congress, the Prime Minister said, in multiple references to the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the 1970s, had “turned the entire country into a jail for 19 months only to stay in power. I have asked for 50 days to fight corruption.”
He assured people that he was “pained by the inconvenience caused and that is why I am working tirelessly to help people overcome this.”
The Congress and other opposition parties have accused the Prime Minister of introducing an anti-poor scheme by banning 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in a sudden move last week.
The currency crunch that has followed has left people standing for hours in queues at banks to draw money, which is being rationed till there are enough replacement notes.
PM Modi said the inconvenience would last for a few days. But the benefits, he promised, would be long term. “Yes, my decisions are kadak (hard). When I was young the poor always asked me to make kadak chai (strong tea),” he said to loud cheers.
