Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said BJP policies make it obvious the party wants disadvantaged sections to progress, while the Congress knows only how to loot people and let the poor continue in poverty, as a weak and deprived India “suits” its politics.

He was addressing a massive gathering at Washim in Maharashtra, after releasing to 9.50 crore farmers across the country the 18th instalment under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, amounting to Rs 20,000 crore, and launching other projects.

Mr Modi said people must beware the Congress which is under the control of “urban naxals.” The Congress thinks if people unite, its agenda to divide the country would not succeed, the Prime Minister said. “

That’s why, it wants people to fight each other, he said. The whole nation is watching how the Congress is getting support for its dangerous objectives,” he said.

“Those who do not want India to progress are today close friends of the Congress. The situation calls for people’s unity, as only unity will save the nation,” he said.

Referring to the Banjara Virasat Museum inaugurated by him, and recalling to the Banjara community’s contribution in the freedom struggle, he said the British colonial government had declared the whole community a criminal tribe.

After Independence, the Prime Minister said, the nation should have taken care of the Banjaras, and given them rightful respect. But what did Congress governments of the day do for them, he asked. The Congress adopted policies to keep the community out of the mainstream.

The family which held control of the Congress party after Independence, had a colonial mindset, the Prime Minister said. Like the British rulers, the family never treated the Dalits, backwards or the adivasis on equal footing. The family wanted that it should alone rule over India as the British had given it this right. Therefore, it never gave any respect to the Banjara community, Mr Modi said.

The Prime Minister said people in Maharashtra must have seen the news about the seizure of drugs worth thousands of crores of rupees in Delhi. Who was the mastermind of this drug racket? A Congress leader, Mr Modi said. The Congress wants to fight and win elections by pushing youth into drug addiction, using drug money. “We have to be cautious of this danger and also warn others. We have to fight this battle together,” he said.

Mr Modi said his government takes decisions and adopts policies dedicated towards making India developed. Farmers constitute the main base of developed India and therefore steps have been taken to empower the farmers.

Today itself, 9,200 Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) have been dedicated to the country, the Prime Minister said. Several infrastructure projects for agriculture have also been inaugurated. These will increase the capacity of storage, processing and management of agricultural products. All these efforts will help in increasing the income of farmers,” the Prime Minister said.

In Maharashtra, he said, the farmers are getting double benefit under the NDA government. The Eknath Shinde government has reduced electricity bill amounts of the farmers to zero.

The farmers of Maharashtra and Vidarbha faced great hardships for many decades, he said. Governments of the Congress and its allies left no stone unturned in making the farmers’ lives miserable.

“As long as the Maha-Aghadi government was here, it had only two agendas. First, to stop the projects related to farmers. Second, to do corruption in funds for the projects! We used to send money from the Centre for the farmers of Maharashtra, but the Maha-Aghadi government used to divide it and eat it up,” the Prime Minister said.

The Congress has always made the lives of farmers difficult, he said. “That is why the Congress does not like the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana! The party makes fun of this scheme, opposes the money being given to the farmers! Actually the Congress got no opportunity to get any cuts in the scheme,” he said.

Maharashtra, where Assembly elections are due later this year, also saw launching of several transformative projects by the Prime Minister in Thane. He said his government was everyday initiating policies to make India developed.