Modi poses as warlord, targets ‘Delhi Sultanate’

Delivering his speech from atop a specially-designed chariot at Shivaji Park here on Sunday, Narendra Modi imagined himself as a medieval...

Delivering his speech from atop a specially-designed chariot at Shivaji Park here on Sunday, Narendra Modi imagined himself as a medieval warlord taking on the might of — what he called — the Delhi Sultanate. Attacking the Congress-led UPA Government for minority appeasement, vote bank politics and a soft approach on terrorism, the Gujarat Chief Minister claimed that his victory will lead to the plank of development taking centrestage in electoral politics. He was addressing a rally at a felicitation programme organised by the Mumbai unit of the BJP.

Calling his felicitation as that of 5.5 crore Gujaratis who had voted him back to power despite “opposition and mispropaganda,” Modi came down heavily on “vested interest groups” who were not ready to accept his victory.

Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent comments about the minorities, particularly Muslims, having the first right on national resources, Modi blamed the Centre for “communal budgeting.” Questioning whether the poor needed to be judged according to the community they belonged to, Modi warned that such a move will not help the country.

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“I want to ask the UPA Government whether they have a policy to fight terrorism,” he said.

In a meeting with the Prime Minister, he had questioned him on the efforts taken to detect the source of arms used by terrorists, use of Government and banking channels by terrorist funds and stopping the use of communication networks for subversive activities, he claimed.

He alleged that the PM was unable to reply to these questions satisfactorily and claimed that the Prevention of Terrorism Act had been repealed by the Centre as part of vote bank politics. He also came down heavily on the Centre’s affidavit in the court on the Ram Sethu issue.

Modi, with Sonia Gandhi in mind, asked why money from the treasury was being paid to foreigners. He even alleged that Sonia had fallen ill after the BJP’s victory in Gujarat and had to be hospitalised.

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Calling on intellectuals to analyse the four models of development in the country — the Congress at the Centre, the Communists in West Bengal, regional parties like the DMK and AIADMK and the “service oriented” model of the BJP, Modi said the BJP model was the best.