`Historic` 2014 General Elections will destroy all poll traditions: Narendra Modi

Zee Media Bureau/Hemant Abhishek

New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said he felt that the 2014 General Elections will be a game-changer for the nation. Sharing the dais with yoga guru Baba Ramdev at the Talkatora Stadium here, Modi acknowledged that people`s participation could turned the upcoming Lok Sabha elections into a mass movement.

"The polls in 2014 will destroy all past poll traditions, it`s the first time an election has become a people`s movement," he said.

He also promised to review and reform of the taxation system in the country, saying the existing structure is a burden on common man.

"The present taxation system is a burden on common man. There is a need to reform it and and introduce a new system. It is the need of the time," Modi said at the event organized by Baba Ramdev, who had demanded abolition of all kinds of taxes and pitched for a single tax in the form of `Banking Transaction Tax` if the BJP leader becomes Prime Minister.

He called upon voters to check the credentials of the hopefuls before casting their votes and question their intentions. "Every party should be asked — you want to make a government? Why? For whom? What for? They should answer that first. Earlier elections were about caste politics. Today they are about development."

Asking people not to fall for empty promises, Modi said electors should entrust their vote in a person with a proven track record. "Don`t trust mere words, go on a person`s track record, not tape record," he said, eliciting loud applause from the jam packed stadium.

In what can be seen as a reference to the brickbats he has faced from the Congress party, Modi said he is grateful for the faith the people have shown in him. "When people make nonsensical allegation, I look back to retrospect. I have no regrets. I have worked hard to reach where I am, this country is great to have given such love to a former tea vendor," said Modi.

He talked about his humble upbringing and said people who have risen from poverty understand the hardships the common man faces. "My mother brought up her children by washing vessels in others` homes, without bitterness. That is why I am an optimistic person.

"People who have faced the hardships of life dont have to travel far too feel other peoples` pain,"he added.