PM Modi makes no move to appease farmers during Punjab rallies, talks development

Tribune News Service

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, May 24

On the second day of his rallies in Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today played the development card to seek the third term for the BJP government from voters.

In line with the party’s hardened stand against the protesting farmers, Modi did not try to appease the farmers in his rallies in Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) and later in Jalandhar.

The day witnessed police crackdowns on farm leaders and several BJP candidates attacking farmers in their speeches in the state.

Interestingly, he had a special mention about former CM Capt Amarinder Singh in his speech in Gurdaspur. He had not mentioned him in his Patiala speech yesterday. Modi appreciated the ex-CM, saying he sacrificed the post of CM because he was not ready to listen to the diktats of the corrupt Congress leadership.

Continuing to underline his connection with Punjabis and service to the Sikh community, Modi dressed for the venue in the rallies. In the Gurdaspur constituency, where the BJP won five of the last seven elections, he was without turban, but wore it later in Jalandhar, where he invoked Gurdwara Talhan Ji and the Radha Swami sect, which have a number of votes in their kitty.

In Gurdaspur, he avoided the mention of the incumbent BJP MP Sunny Deol, who disappointed the people of the constituency after winning it. Modi mentioned the great work done by the late MP Vinod Khanna, who won the 1998, 1999 and 2004 elections.

Surprisingly, Modi did not indulge in Pakistan bashing even though the BJP had chosen Dinanagar as the venue for his rally in Gurdaspur. In July 2015, three terrorists laid siege to a police station in the town. They were killed in an eight-hour operation.

Modi ridiculed the Congress for the Partition, 1984 anti-Sikh riots and for letting the 90,000 Pak prisoners go without taking Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in exchange. Interestingly, Modi made his speech from a district which was given to Pakistan initially. The town became part of India on August 17 after the intervention by Lord Mountbatten.

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