New Delhi, 4 Apr (PTI): BJP president J P Nadda Thursday asked people of Uttarakhand to give all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state to the BJP again to help Narendra Modi return as prime minister for a third term and make India the third biggest economy in the world.
“It is your national responsibility,” Nadda told his first election meeting in Uttarakhand here in support of Ajay Tamta, the BJP candidate from the Almora Lok Sabha seat.
Prime Minister Modi made the country the fifth biggest economy in the world despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, he said.
“If you help him get a third term as PM by ensuring the BJP’s victory in all five seats he will make India the third biggest economy,” he said.
Nadda said that in the Lok Sabha elections, people have to choose between scamsters and those who understood their pain and took major steps towards development, empowering the poor and women.
“Women in the hills earlier had to go to the forest each morning to collect firewood and walk miles to fetch water. Modi rid them of the daily grind through schemes like Ujjwala and Har Ghar Nal se Jal,” he said.
Besides, 11 crore ‘izzat ghars’ (toilets) were made which eased the lives of people especially women, he added.
The BJP chief also spoke of the Ayushman scheme under which people can avail of free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh in case of major illnesses and the PM Awas Yojana under which four crore pucca houses have been built for the poor in the country.
One lakh such houses have been built in Uttarakhand of which 11,000 are located in Pithoragarh alone, he said.
Under PM Modi’s leadership, India has seen unprecedented growth in various sectors including mobile phone manufacturing, automobile and steel industries, and road, rail and air connectivity infrastructure, he said.
Naming the various scams during the Congress-led UPA, he spoke of the Bofors, Agusta Westland, coal block allocation, Commonwealth and submarine scams.
Nadda said the Congress had only cheated the servicemen for decades over ‘one rank one pension’, a demand fulfilled only after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.
The BJP chief targeted the Congress for raising doubts over the surgical and Balakot air strikes which he described as the results of Modi’s bold and courageous leadership.