PM Narendra Modi kicked off the BJP election campaign in Maharashtra with an all-out assault on the Congress-backed Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.

He told an election rally in Dhule that “The MVA is a vehicle without wheels or brakes and there is a fight going on to occupy the driver’s seat”.

The prime minister said, “We came to politics to serve the public. At the same time, for some people, the basis of politics is looting the people. The Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) intention is to loot the people.”

He told the crowd, “You have seen 2.5 years of the government formed fraudulently by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). These people first looted the government and then started looting the people of Maharashtra. These people stalled metro projects. They created hurdles in the work of Wadhawan Port and created obstacles in the construction of Samruddhi Mahamarg”.

He said the MVA had stopped every scheme that was going to brighten the future of the people of Maharashtra.

PM Modi said that MVA leaders have issued statements abusing women. “Every woman of Maharashtra has to be cautious about the MVA. For a developed Maharashtra and a developed India, it is very important to make the lives of our sisters and daughters easier and empower them. When women move forward, the entire society progresses rapidly. Therefore, in the last 10 years, the central government took major decisions keeping women at the centre.”

The PM targeted the Congress party, accusing it of trying to create divisions among the country’s tribal communities. He emphasised that attempts by the Congress to sow discord between the SC, ST, and OBC communities are as dangerous as the party’s past attempts to divide religious groups, which led to the partition of India. Modi emphasied the importance of unity and said that the nation would remain strong as long as people remained united.

PM Modi praised the development work carried out by the BJP-backed and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti alliance, which he claimed would continue its good work if it got re-elected. He assured the people of Maharashtra that the state’s growth would reach new heights under a Mahayuti government.

Underlining the importance of women’s empowerment in achieving a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India), he said social progress is closely tied to the advancement of women and pledged to remove all barriers to their empowerment. Referring to the Opposition’s criticism of the ‘Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’, a scheme to benefit women, he accused the MVA of trying to sabotage the initiative, claiming they did not want to see women empowered.