`Lahar’ has started...aayenge toh Yogi hi: PM Modi in Kannauj

LUCKNOW: PM Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that an "unprecedented" `lahar' (wave) has already started in favour of the BJP and the competition was largely within the party as to how many more seats it would win than in the last UP elections.
"Ayegi to BJP hi...Ayenge to Yogi hi...," he said while addressing a rally in Kannauj, his first in the Yadav dominated region which goes to vote in the third phase of UP polls.The BJP had called in supporters from Etawah, the home town of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Auraiyya and Farrukhabad to Kannauj. Modi's observation marked a fresh nudge at the Samajwadi Party which has been seeking to square off with the BJP to thwart its bid of returning to office in March.
The PM also landed a punch at SP accusing it of maligning the image of Kannauj by linking its perfume industry with corruption. His apparent reference was towards the haul of unaccounted cash which was recovered from a Kanpur based perfume trader, Piyush Jain, in December last year. "Yahan ke pariravarwadiyon ne kannauj ke itr udyog ko badnaam kiya...inhone itr ko corruption se jod diya (The parivarwadis maligned the perfume trade of Kannauj by associating it with corruption)," Modi charged, stressing that the BJP government has been trying to give the perfume industry of Kannauj a global identity.
The PM categorically flagged CM Yogi Adityanath as a leader who was ' playing on the front foot' while being powered by the support of millions of people. He said that only the BJP had the "medicine" for "gundas" and "gadmaash" while ensuring a robust law and order situation.
Modi again flayed the opposition as "parivarwadis" who were "not getting dreams" anymore as their ploy to divide people in terms of caste and religion has been thwarted in the very first phase. "People of UP are voting against these dangawadis and mafiawadis...," he said, cautioning people not to "waste" their votes by getting divided in caste and religion.
He referred to SP's last election tagline "Kam Bolta Hai'' as being against people. "Unka Kaam aaj bhi bolta hai...," he said, admonishing the SP for terming 'made in India vaccines as 'BJP vaccines', stoking rumours about it and playing with the lives of millions of people. "Had there been an SP government during the pandemic then their ration mafia would have pilfered the food grains meant to be distributed to the poor," Modi said. He noted that the welfare schemes were not being liked by the parivarwadis who would try hard to stop these schemes if they came to power.
Modi also drew a parallel with Gujarat, which, he said, had once got infested with "misrule" of the Congress and recurrent riots. "Damages were caused to the public and private properties, people were murdered and families were forced to migrate," he recalled. "It was only when BJP came to power that the rule of law got established and for the past two decades, no riots have occurred in the state. Gujarat is now touching new heights of development," he said.
"Similarly, in UP, too, we need to give rule of law the top priority," he said, maintaining that steps taken by the BJP government need to be strengthened and no space should be given to the "rioters". "Jinki rajneeti apradh, bhrashtachar aur goondagardi pe tiki ho wo kabhi sudhar nahi sakte...," he said.
Modi said that the political parties having nepotism at their roots tend to change the basic tenet of the constitutions from -- "of the people, for the people, by the people '' to "of the family, for the family and by the family".
"UP has decided to get rid of these parivarwadis," he said. The PM said that every district of UP once was identified by one or the other mafia. "But now the districts are being identified by their trademark products," he said, in a clear reference to the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme launched by the Yogi government.
Making a strong outreach to the backward castes, Modi said that the BJP government not only extended the reservation provision by another 10 years but also constituted an OBC commission, the demand for which was given a shoulder by the previous Congress-led UPA government.
The PM said that the BJP was working towards futuristic needs of the people -- be it giving houses to the poor, linking villages with roads, construction of highways and expressways and setting up agriculture-based industries. He stressed that it was the "double engine" government of BJP that ensured LPG connection to scores of families and Kisan Samman Nidhi to small and marginal farmers.