Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted the opposition parties who attended the so called ‘United India’ rally in Kolkata a day before. In a video address to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) booth level workers in Goa, the PM slammed the ‘mahagathbandhan’ and said that it is a “coalition of dynasts, corruption, inefficiency and inequality”.

“Ye mahagathbandhan ek anokha bandhan hai. Ye bandhan to naamdaaro ka bandhan hai. Ye bandhan to bhai-bhativaaj ka, bhrashtachaar ka, ghotalon ka, nakaaratmakta ka, asthirta ka, asamaanta ka bandhan hai. Ye ek adbhut sangam hai (This mahagathbandhan is a strange association. This tie-up is an association of dynasts. This association is a coming together of corruption, scams, inefficiency, uncertainty and inequality. This is a strange confluence),” the PM said.

During the interaction, the PM said that while the parties who attended the so called ‘United India’ rally had formed an alliance with each other, the BJP has allied with the people of the country.

“They’ve formed alliances with each other. We’ve formed alliance with 125 crore countrymen. Which alliance do you think is stronger?” he said expressing confidence in the victory of his party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to be held in a few months.

The PM said that the leaders present at the rally were either the sons of influential people or were trying to propel their own children.

“They’ve ‘dhanshakti’ (power of wealth), we’ve ‘janshakti’ (power of the people),” he said.

Accusing the Congress of indulging in corruption, the PM said that “truth cannot be hidden for long” referring to the goof up made by Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) leader Sharad Yadav who termed Bofors as a scam instead of Rafale while attacking the BJP.

“Jis manch se ye log desh aur loktantra ko bachane ki baat keh rahe the, usi manch par ek neta ne Bofors ghotale ki yaad dila di. (From the platform where they were talking about saving the country and democracy, one leader reminded the people of the Bofors scam),” Modi said.

“Aakhir sacchai kab tak chupti hai. Kabhi na kabhi to sach bahar aa hi jaata hai, jo kal Kolkata mein hua (After all, how can truth remain hidden. The truth always comes out, which happened in Kolkata),” Modi said.

Slamming the leaders who demanded that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) should not be used in the upcoming general elections, the PM said that the parties had already started making excuses for their defeat.

“EVM is being made a villain. It’s natural that every political party wants to win the polls, but it’s worrisome when some parties take public for granted. They consider public stupid and so keep changing colours,” the PM lashed out.

National Conference (NC) chairman Farooq Abdullah had during the rally called the EVM a “chor machine” claiming that it steals votes. He had urged other political heavyweights at the rally to collectively approach the Election Commission and the President of India to call for the replacement of the EVM with ballot paper system for the sake of transparency.

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Later in the day at a press conference, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who organised the massive anti-BJP opposition rally, announced that a committee comprising Abhishek Manu Singhvi (Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satish Mishra (Bahujan Samaj Party) and Arvind Kejriwal (Aam Aadmi Party) will submit its recommendations regarding the use of EVMs to the EC.