PM Narendra Modi lashes out at Congress for 'defaming' Punjab, says party is history now

Punjab will go to the polls on February 4.

Jalandhar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lambasted the Congress for "defaming" Punjab for political gain.

The PM attacked the Sonia Gandhi-led party and dubbed the INC as a "sinking ship".

"The Congress is a sinking ship. The Congress is history. It is on its last breath," said Modi.

Kick-starting the election campaign for Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiromani Akali Dal combine with a rally in this Punjab city, Modi urged people of the state to teach Congress a lesson in the February 4 Assembly Elections.

"The Congress has no principles or rules. To survive politically, the Congress, which joined hands with the Communists in West Bengal earlier after opposing them for decades, has now joined hands with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh," Modi said.

"The country has seen the politics of destruction for 70 years and the youths of this country are suffering due to it. If you want to do politics, do politics of development," Modi said while challenging the opposition parties to change the political discourse in the country.

He said Congress was "hungry for power" and had struck an electoral understanding with the Communist Party of India-Marxist for the West Bengal assembly polls last year despite having fought against it for over 50 years. 

Referring to Uttar Pradesh, which will also face assembly polls in February-March this year, Modi said the Congress had protested against the Samajwadi Party government for months, sought to take advantage of the rift in the ruling party but ended up as its junior ally for the sake of power and to "save itself".

Modi also lauded Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, saying that he was committed to Hindu-Sikh unity and had strived to take the state forward.

Talking about his fight against corruption, Modi said people who had accumulated black money in the last 70 years were affected by (demonetisation) action initiated by his government against the corrupt.

Referring to the controversial Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, the Prime Minister said Punjab river waters were for its farmers only.

"We will bring the water of Indus river, which is flowing into Pakistan, for the farmers of this country," Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that in recent years, attempts were made to defame Punjab, its brave people, and its youths and urged the people to beware of people doing it.

"Punish them (those defaming Punjab) in such a way that no one can point a finger at Punjab. This election is an opportunity to reject those trying to defame Punjab," Modi said.

Pointing out that Punjab`s pride has been hurt, Modi lamented: "I cannot visualise that politics will stoop to such low levels."

Taking a dig at the Congress, the Prime Minister said the Congress was readying itself to return to power in Punjab five years ago also but the voters of Punjab decided otherwise and instead brought Badal back as the Chief Minister.

"The Congress is frustrated while sitting out of power. The Congress has no colour, shape or path," he said.

The PM described Punjab as "the land of braves".

"There are many states in India but Punjab is more than that. It enhances the country`s pride," Modi said.

The SAD and Bharatiya Janata Party run an alliance government in Punjab since 2007.

(With IANS inputs)