Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the Congress of supporting urban Maoists who lead a comfortable life in cities but ruin the lives of poor tribals who are encouraged to take up arms against the government. PM Modi, who was speaking at his first election meeting for next week’s state elections in Bastar’s Jagdalpur, said the Congress had to answer to the people why it spoke in defence of urban Maoists.
“Urban Maoists live in air-conditioned homes, study abroad, roam around in fancy cars but ruin lives of tribal youth here through a remote control. Why is Congress supporting these urban Maoists?” he said at the public meeting in a region that has been a hotbed of Maoist activities for decades.
PM Modi, who described Maoists as “monsters with evil mindset”, said his government had dared to go ahead with development projects in Maoist-affected parts of the state in face of a push back from Maoists and was determined to reach better facilities to people in Chhattisgarh that was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
“Chhattisgarh has turned 18. Parents have to budget for their children once they become 18… All dreams revolve around the government in Delhi government doing that, knitting dreams for 18-year-old Chhattisgarh,” he said.
Maoist-affected parts of Chhattisgarh are due to vote for a new government on Monday amid heavy deployment of security personnel. Other parts of the state will vote later on November 20.
Blaming previous governments run by the Congress of not doing enough for the Bastar region, PM Modi asked people to ensure that the BJP comes back to power.
“Will you forgive such people? These people will not win Chhattisgarh. I appeal to you to ensure that BJP wins all seats in the Bastar region. If anyone else wins, it will be a blot on Bastar’s dreams,” he added.
First Published: Nov 09, 2018 14:37 IST
Source: HindustanTimes