PM Modi slams Rahul's "Grand Stupid Thought" of slashing all taxes to 18%

Continuing the BJP's campaign in poll-bound Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Gujarat's Morbi, said that development for the BJP meant serving the people and not winning elections.
The prime minister said that the people of Gujarat should vote for development as they have one of their own sitting in Delhi who is working for the well-being of Gujarat.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi's description of GST as 'Gabbar Singh Tax', the prime minister said that those who looted the country could only think of dacoits.

He attacked Rahul Gandhi for propagating "Grand Stupid Thought" in the name of GST by slashing all tax rates to 18 per cent.

"What kind of smartness is this... how has such an economist emerged here. You want to make goods used by the poor like clothes, footwear and food costlier and you want to make cigarettes and liquor cheaper," he said, ripping into the "anti poor" Congress over its criticism of the tax reform.

In his speech, Prime Minister Modi said when the BJP government came to power, lack of availability of water was a major issue in the Saurashtra and Kutch region. But with SAUNI Yojana pipelines were constructed to get the waters of Narmada in the Saurashtra region. Dams in the Saurashtra region were filled with waters of Narmada river.

He trained his guns on the Congress party saying that it was anti-Narmada and he fought the UPA government of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi for Narmada and for the farmers and people of Gujarat.

Launching an attack on the Congress party, the prime minister said, "For Congress, development was giving hand pumps but for the BJP, it is SAUNI Yojana and large pipelines that carry Narmada waters."

On water conservation, the prime minister said that the BJP government initiated a mass movement to conserve every drop of water as it understands the implications of water scarcity.

Referring to a picture of Indira Gandhi covering her nose when she visited Morbi because of the foul smell, the Prime Minister said that for the Jansangh or the RSS, the streets of Morbi represent fragrance of humanity.

"I remember Indira Gandhi had come here and Chitralekha (a local language magazine) had printed her photo with a handkerchief over her nose, trying to avoid the stench, while another photo on the same front page had RSS workers carrying dead bodies," he said.

The prime minister will address four rallies today in Morbi, Prachi, Palitana and Navasari.

Gujarat will go to polls in two phases on December 9 and 14. The results will be declared on December 18.

(With inputs from PTI)