Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the Congress governments never gave armed forces a free hand to retaliate and the enemy could leave after the attack, but the enemy now knows “it is Modi, a New India, which will enter your home and punish you.”

Addressing a huge BJP election rally in Churu in Rajasthan, he said he had come to Churu on 26 February 2019 when India had just undertaken the Balakot air strike and taught a lesson to terrorists.

“I had said in Churu and am repeating it today saugandh mujhe is mitti ki, mein desh nahin mitne doonga, mein desh nahin rukne doonga, mein desh nahin jhukne doonga; mera vachan hai bharat ma ko, tera sheesh nahin jhukne doonga (I swear by my land, I will not let my country be destroyed, or slow down, or bend; I promise Mother Bharat, I will not let you down),” the prime minister said.

When the surgical strike took place, he asked what did the Congress and its allies say. Members of the “Ghamandia” coalition were seeking proof of the surgical strikes, he said. The Congress is just known for the insult of the armed forces and Partition of the country, he said.

As long as these INDIA bloc people were in power, they did not give a free hand to the armed forces, he said. The jawans were waiting for One Rank One Pension; the Congress did not accept it and it was implemented by his government, he contended.

Over the national interest, the Congress gave preference to appeasement, he said, adding these people said in court that Lord Ram is an imaginary figure. In the Ram Lalla consecration in Ayodhya, the whole nation was celebrating Pran Pratishtha, and the Congress was making fun of people’s faith. The Congress has always paid a price for such acts.

Now, it is learned, the Congress has issued an advisory to its units to keep quiet on the Ayodhya issue, he said. The party is scared of even talking about Lord Ram. This country cannot accept this insult of people’s faith, the prime minister said.

When these dynastic corrupt are being made to account for their corruption, they have formed a coalition, he said. “I say bhrashtachaar hatao, they say bhrashtachari bachao,” he said. Mr Modi asked, “What should be done, should the country be free of the corrupt or not; has corruption not ruined the country, is it wrong to continue the campaign against the corrupt?”

The crowds approved that the action should continue.

The “Ghamandia” coalition members are not holding election rallies these days but rallies to save the corrupt persons, Mr Modi said. There was a recovery of Rs 300 crore from just one Congress MP. ED has seized property worth over Rs 1 lakh crore in the last 10 years, the Prime Minister said.

“Should the corrupt not spend their lives in jails? Modi will not be scared by any falsehood campaigns against him, I can tell these corrupt families. The congress and its allies only worry about their own interest, they have no respect for Dalit or are deprived of their welfare,” the prime minister said.

He said Congress never respected B R Ambedkar, denied him Bharat Ratna, and imposed an Emergency. The backward classes commission was not given constitutional status, while the BJP government gave to India Dalit Presidents and the first tribal woman President, whom the INDI alliance tried its best to defeat.

He said what the BJP says, it implements. Like other parties it does not come out with just manifestoes, it releases a Sankalp Patra, a list of firm proposals. “Our last Sankalp Patra in 2019 is nearly implemented fully. Even two years after Covid, we pursued all our promises,” he said.

He said Shekhawati jawans were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir. His government finished Article 370 there. The Teen Talaq provision was ended and it is benefiting Muslim women and ending much uncertainty for relatives of young married Muslim women.

Parliament passed the law for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha. The BJP’s sankalp patra is now accepted as a document of guarantees, the prime minister said.

The prime minister said years of Congress misrule had convinced people there was no hope for the country. “But in 2014, you gave a chance to this son of a poor family to serve you. Modi does not accept defeat or disappointment. Modi decided things must change,” he added.

For him, the country was his family, he said. “We worked with honesty. The Covid crisis came and the world thought India would not only destroy itself but also others. Out of the crisis, India emerged as the fifth-largest economy in the world. We could also make excuses. But challenging the challenges is peculiar to our land. We worked and showed results,” he said