Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the Congress party alleging that it boycotted the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and demeaned the holy Ganga. Modi charged that terrorism extended its tentacles due to weak Congress governments but the BJP government is striking terrorists in their homes.

Addressing a mammoth rally in Rishikesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress party alleging that it first blocked the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and then boycotted the consecration ceremony invitation sent by the temple management. “Congress questioned the existence of Lord Ram. It first opposed the construction of Ram Temple and created a series of obstacles to block it. They tried to create hurdles in the court as well but those who constructed the temple forgave all their sins and went to their homes to invite for the consecration ceremony but they boycotted the event,” the Prime Minister said.

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He further charged that the Congress leadership in Uttarakhand demeaned River Ganga as well. “This is the same Congress that had said that the Harki Pauri in Haridwar was not on the bank of Ganga but it lay along a canal. Now they are also questioning the existence of the holy river Ganga but the people of Uttarakhand will teach them a lesson,” Modi said. He appealed to Uttarakhand voters to send all five BJP candidates to the Lok Sabha with record victories.

The nation has seen the results of a stable government. Now the country has a government that strengthened India manifold in the last 10 years. Whenever a country had a weak and unstable government, enemies took advantage of the situation. When India had unstable governments, terrorism expanded in the country. Today India has a Modi-led strong government. This is the reason why terrorists are being struck in their own territories. This also makes the Indian tricolour a guarantee of safety in the war fields,” Modi said.

The PM further attacked the former Congress-led central governments, accusing them of being weak and failing to develop modern infrastructure in border regions. He emphasised ongoing efforts to construct modern roads and tunnels in these areas. Hitting out at the Congress leadership, Modi said: “For Congress members, Delhi’s royal family comes first followed by their own families. For Modi, India is his family.”

The PM also hit out at the Congress for its poor defence policies, saying: “Indian Army jawans lacked bulletproof jackets in the Congress regime. There was no foolproof measure to save our jawans from the enemies’ bullets. The BJP government has provided indigenously manufactured bulletproof jackets to our soldiers. Today, arms and ammunition ranging from rifles to fighter planes and aircraft carriers are being made in India,” the Prime Minister said.

Modi emphasised that the strong government under his leadership took bold initiatives like abrogating Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, enacting laws against triple talaq, making provision for women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and implementing 10 per cent reservation for the economically poor from general castes.

Modi claimed that his government is persistently working to enhance the capability of Uttarakhand tourism sector. He said that his administration facilitated loans to lakhs of youths under the Mudra Yojana for starting their own ventures in the tourism sector. He contrasted this with the alleged corruption during the Congress regime when middlemen swindled public funds. “A sum of over Rs 2,600 crore was directly transferred into the accounts of Uttarakhand farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. Had there been a Congress government, everything would have been looted. Modi has stopped this loot. That is why they are angry and spewing venom against me. When Modi says remove corruption, they say save the corrupt. Please tell me, is corruption not disastrous for the nation and its people? Should it not end in this country?” the PM asked. He further said: “More than 1,000 start-ups have been registered in the name of Uttarakhand youths and 500 of these have been done by our daughters.”

According to Modi, only nine out of 100 families in Uttarakhand had access to tap water until 2019. However, the situation has now significantly changed, with nine out of every 10 families in the state enjoying tap water connections, he asserted.