PM Narendra Modi addressed a massive rally in Kolkata today, as part of the campaign for the assembly elections. While the party had estimated that 10 lakh people will attend the rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, reportedly the crowd exceeded that number by a large margin, and the rally organisers had a tough time maintaining discipline at the historic venue.
During his speech, PM Modi took jibes at West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee several times. He mentioned that recent electric scooter ride by the CM in protest against the rising fuel prices when she was about the fall. The PM said, ‘when you drove a scooty few days ago, everyone was praying that you remain ok, that you are not injured. It is good that you didn’t fell, else you would have attacked that state where that scooty was manufactured. You would have made that state itself your enemy.’
After that Modi taunted the Mamata Banerjee for changing her constituency from Bawanipur to Nandigram, and said that she will lose her election. ‘Your scooty has turned towards Nandigram instead of going to Bhawanipur’, he said. The PM than added, ‘we wish good for everyone, we don’t want that anyone is injured. But if your scooty has decided to crash in Nandigram, what can we do?’
The prime minister also responded to the constant attack by Rahul Gandhi and others alleging him of helping only his ‘friends’ like Adani and Ambani. He turned the allegation on its head, and said that yes, he helps his friends, adding that poor in the country are his friends. ‘Opposition parties say that I work for my friends, we all know that among whom we spend our childhood, with whom we play, read, they are our true friends. I also grew up in poverty, and that’s why I understand the problems of the poor,’ the PM said. He added that he does not need to read books or watch videos of pictured to know about poverty in the country, because he can feel it by his heart.
‘That is why, I work for my friends, and I will work for my friends’, the PM added. He said that his government has given 90 lakh gas connections to his friends in Bengal, has provided free electricity connection to over 7 lakh friends in Bengal, has made toilets in more than 60 lakh households of his friends in the state. He added that all his friends in West Bengal have been benefited by various schemes of the central govt.
PM Modi said that tea workers are his special friends, as he has special relation with tea. He informed that it has been decided that tea workers will get the benefits of social security schemes.
Continuing with ‘helping his friends’, Modi said that when everyone was troubled by the Coronavirus pandemic, the poor were most affected. He said that when Coronavirus came to the country, he provided free ration, free gas to each of his friends, and deposited crores of Rupees in their bank accounts. In the world the Coronavirus vaccine is expensive, but in India I have arranged for free vaccinations at government hospitals for my friends, he added.
‘brothers and sisters, who are my friends, you are my friends. 130 crore Indians are my friends. Every youth working hard with a dream is my friend, everyone born in a poor hut is my friend. When my friends repay the debt of my friendship, these people have a problem’, the PM saying, referring to people voting for BJP for its welfare schemes. He also added that when he tries to work for his friends, these people try to stop that, referring to the West Bengal government refusing to implement several central schemes in the state.
