Aurangzeb Raj, divide and rule, poll-time lollipops,: PM Modi's no-hold-barred attack on Congress

PM Narendra Modi accused Congress of dividing people and of making false promises before elections. He also said Rahul Gandhi's imminent rise to the post of party president is 'Aurangzeb Raj' and shows there is no democracy within Congress.

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New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi's oratory skills were on full display all of Monday when he addressed as many as three rallies across Gujarat. Attacking Congress ahead of the state assembly elections, he questioned the party's past, present and future with much gutso.

On a day when Rahul Gandhi appeared set to take over from his mother Sonia Gandhi as Congress president, PM Modi unleashed a barrage of attacks on him and his party for resembling a clan. "I congratulate the Congress on their 'Aurangzeb Raj.' For us, the well-being of the people matters and 125 crore Indians are our high command," he said in Valsad. "Mani Shankar Aiyar asked 'did elections happen during Mughal rule? After Jehangir, Shahjahan came, was any election held? After Shahjahan it was understood Aurangzeb will be the leader'. So the Congress accepts it's a family party? We don't want this Aurangzeb rule."

He then turned to target the Congress party as a whole and accused it of not just being a family party but also dividing people of the country. "Congress has learnt divide and rule rather well from out colonial rulers," he said in Bhavnagar. "I fail to understand why is Congress once again doing what it always did in the past - divide people, be it on caste lines, communal lines, between villages and cities."

Accusing the party of failing to deliver on its pre-poll promises, PM Modi said that their failures have resulted in people of Uttar Pradesh rejecting Congress - an apparent reference to the recent civic polls here where BJP emerged triumphant. "I appeal to the Congress to stick to the truth. The people of Gujarat do not like poll-time lollipops and false promises of the Congress. The people of UP know the Congress and their leadership well. And see how they have rejected Congress repeatedly."

The battle for Gujarat ahead of elections on December 9 and 14 has been hotting up with PM Modi himself leading BJP's charge. He is scheduled to hold a number of rallies here ahead of polling.