Modi hard-sells note ban in mega UP rally

In poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hard-sold demonetisation as a drive to “take money and give it to the poor”, employing smart one-liners to highlight the Opposition’s weakenesses.

In flourishes reminiscent of Indira Gandhi’s famous slogan “ Woh kehte hain Indira hatao ; main kehti hoon garibi hatao” the Prime Minister dismissed Opposition criticism on demonetisation as “ Woh kehte hain Modi hatao, mein kehta hoon kala dhan hatao, bhrashtachar hatao (They say remove Modi, I say remove corruption and black money)”.

The PM pointed out the size of his mega rally in Lucknow to assert that the BJP will get a majority in the State, which elected 73 of its MPs in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Besides being show of strength attended by party big-wigs including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP President Amit Shah, the BJP’s rally was also the first occasion for the PM to deliver the political message in the demonetisation drive – that he is “cleaning up” corruption and channelling blackmoney towards the poor through welfare measures announced in his New Year’s eve address. He said the Opposition has been criticising note ban because it had “made them irrelevant” and the “ground has shifted from under their feet”.

With characteristic rhetorical flourish, Modi dismissed Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi as a non-entity, and then attacking Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati who is “struggling to hide money”, before finally zeroing in on the Samajwadi Party’s family feud.

“There is a party which is non-existent in UP. It is struggling to establish the heir to the family. But for the last 15 years, they have struggled in vain. Then there is another party which is more concerned about finding safe hideouts and banks to stash its ill-gotten money than pay attention to the people’s issues. The third party is only focused on the feud within their first family...BJP is the only party that can save UP,” the PM said, flinging barbs at his opponents without specifically naming them.

Modi said Opposition had been “shaken” and had “lost their moorings” because of the people’s support to demonetisation, which he described as an exercise in channelling money into people’s welfare.

“Have you ever seen SP and BSP together on any issue? If the SP says it is sunrise, the BSP will say it is sunset. But both have come together after so many years on one issue alone...and what are they saying -- ‘ Modi ko badlo ’ (change Modi), ‘ Modi ko hatao ’ (remove Modi) because he wants to remove black money. Woh kehte hain Modi hatao, mein kehta hoon kala dhan hatao, bhrashtachar hatao (They say remove Modi, I say remove corruption, remove black money),” said Modi, making a reference to Indira Gandhi’s famous Garibi Hatao slogan.

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