Referring to the spike in the number of crimes in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress government in the state at a rally in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Addressing a huge crowd of supporters at the Palace Ground, the PM began by saluting Kannada icons such as Sangolli Rayanna, Sir M Visvesvaraya, Rani Chennamma among others.

PM Modi tore into the government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by accusing the Congress of erecting roadblocks in developmental projects initiated by the Centre for the state.

“On the one side, the BJP government is trying to take India forward, on the other the Karnataka government is taking the state backwards,” the PM said.

“We are talking about Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living. But in Karnataka, the discussion is about Ease of Doing Murder,” Modi said, adding that more than the rule of law, it is the rule of criminals that is visible in Karnataka.

The PM said that people are paying with their lives for protesting against the government.

“This is a dangerous sign for democracy. The manner in which BJP workers are being killed in Karnataka has hurt the fabric of society,” he said, urging supporters to respond by snubbing the Congress government at the polls.

“The dream of a Congress-mukt Karnataka is closer to realisation,” the PM said amid loud cheers of the supporters.

The PM reached the venue in a helicopter from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport in the afternoon.

Farmers and IT professionals were among the youth and other citizens from the city who were in attendance at the event.

PM Modi was speaking at the conclusion of the party’s 90-day ‘Nava Nirman Parivarthan Yatra’ across 224 assembly constituencies in poll-bound Karnataka. The rally was flagged off on 2 November by BJP president Amit Shah.

The party’s state president and BJP’s CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa, Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal who are in-charge of the BJP poll campaign in Karnataka, Ananth Kumar, DV Sadananda Gowda and Ananthkumar Hegde were also present at the event.

The legislative assembly elections in Karnataka are due in April-May.