No hung assembly please, Modi tells Assam

In a veiled attack at Badruddin Ajmal, PM says 'some' are waiting for a hung house so that they can be kingmakers

Our Bureau

Raha / Sorbhog/ Rangiya/ Guwahati, April 8: Warning that a hung assembly will hurt the State, Prime Minister rendra Modi on Friday urged the people of Assam to vote decisively for the BJP even as he targeted the Congress for "not going beyond vote bank politics, dysty politics, corruption and misrule during its 60-year-rule in the country."

Addressing four rallies in the State on Friday, the Prime Minister said the Bharatiya Jata Party (BJP) and its allies wanted to form "a majority government" in the State.

"Some people are waiting to see a hung assembly in Assam. They want to steer the government through remote control. They want to become king makers. Do not give them a chance. So make sure that the BJP alliance gets an absolute majority," he said, in an obvious reference to AIUDF's Badruddin Ajmal.

Modi also accused the Congress of exploiting what he called was the Bangladeshi vote bank to stick to power.

"The people of Assam have supported the Congress wholeheartedly for 15 years. But the party has failed to go beyond its vote bank politics, dystic politics, corruption and misrule, thus ruining the State," he thundered.

"There are limited employment opportunities in the State. And if intruders (Bangladeshi migrants) come and occupy them, where will the locals go?" he asked.

The Prime Minister said that fencing the India-Bangladesh border was his priority.

He said his government would take such steps that would not only stop infiltration from Bangladesh but ensure that all the illegal infiltrators living in Assam were sent back.

And in an obvious dig at the Congress, Modi wondered why Saudi Arabia's decision to confer the highest civilian award on him had upset some people in the State. "I understand a certain country won't like India's relationship with some foreign country improving. But why a section of people here are having stomach aches? What kind of patriotism is this?"

Modi said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had stopped smiling after the heavy polling in the first phase of assembly elections on April 4.

And the Congress leadership cannot save the party from defeat in the polls, the second and fil phase of which will be conducted on Monday, he said.

 "I thank the people of Assam for the unprecedented high percentage of voting in the first phase," Modi said, addressing the crowd at Raha in Hindi.

"You must have noticed that the Assam chief minister has stopped smiling after the first phase. He is now inviting Congress leaders from Delhi to save him. But how can they (Congress leaders) save Gogoiji when they could not even save Delhi?" he asked, referring to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Raking up the issue of flash floods in Guwahati, Modi, addressing his last rally at Maligaon, said, "People cannot move out after a shower in Guwahati. What kind of a system is this? Will we have to remain like this? Won't the system change?"

He said Guwahati was not even in the list of top 15 clean cities in the country, according to a recent survey. "This is the condition under the very nose of the Chief Minister."

"The government should be for the poor, not for the rich," he said.

He said he had come to Assam to seek the people's support to bring about a change of government in the State.

Referring to music maestro's Bhupen Hazarika's song 'Bohag mathu eti ritu nohoi, nohoi bohag eti maah… asomiya jati'r eii ayukh rekha… jono-jibonor eii xakh' (Bohag is not merely a season; nor it is a month; it is the lifeline of the Assamese and the spirit of the masses), Modi wished the people on the occasion of Assamese New Year and called upon the voters to change the "lifeline" of the State in this Assamese month of Bohag.

Referring to former PM Manmohan Singh's recent jibe at him that "actions should speak louder than words," Modi said, "Just wait and see…Manmohan Singhji..the work will speak now. Wait and see who all have to go to jail in the coming days."