I’m your man in Delhi, Modi tells Gujaratis

AMRELI:On a day when both Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were campaigning in Gujarat, the Prime Minister sought to identify himself with the people of his home state as “one of them” and advised them not to let go the privilege of “just walking into the Prime Minister’s house in Delhi, demanding a cup of tea.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being presented a memento during a rally at Amreli in Gujarat on Thursday. PTI

Manas Dasgupta
Amreli, April 18

On a day when both Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were campaigning in Gujarat, the Prime Minister sought to identify himself with the people of his home state as “one of them” and advised them not to let go the privilege of “just walking into the Prime Minister’s house in Delhi, demanding a cup of tea.

Addressing a meeting at Amreli in the Saurashtra region, Modi said he was confident that there would be at least 100 people in the meeting whom he knew by name.

“Earlier when you visited Delhi, you would be looking at the PM’s house with awe. Now you can simply walk in and ask for a cup of tea because your son is sitting there. Should you let that advantage go?” he asked.

Modi said he could lead the country to rapid strides and take hard decisions only because he was “trained” in Gujarat. He said normally if one person stayed as chief minister for over 12 years, the people would heave a sigh of relief at his departure.

“But I had a very different and happy experience when I was leaving for Delhi in 2014,” he added.

“You had faith in me and I have delivered. And you have given me the right to put a demand on you. I am asking you to give me all 26 seats in Gujarat by pressing the lotus button,” Modi said.

He said his “grooming” in Gujarat made him stand firm during the Doklam standoff with China in 2017.

He said as a Gujarati he felt proud that the tallest statue in the world was located in Gujarat.

Referring to the Balakot airstrike, Modi said, “They (Pakistan) forgot that this is Modi...For the first time, you must have seen Pakistan crying. They were urging Modi to pick up the phone...we have put Pakistan in such a situation.”

Attacking Jawaharlal Nehru for his “faulty policy” on Kashmir for which the country was bleeding for the past 70 years, Modi claimed that because of the decisive actions taken by his government against terrorists in the last five years, the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir at present was better than West Bengal.