Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two back-to-back rallies in politically-sensitive western Uttar Pradesh in which he took on the opposition parties accusing them of playing vote-bank politics and going soft on terrorism.

In two separate public meetings in Amroha and Saharanpur, the PM lashed out at the Congress, the BSP, the SP and other opposition parties on a host of issues including crime.

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“Responding to terror in their own language causes a lot of pain to some people in our country. The soft attitude of Congress, SP and BSP towards terror emboldened some people,” he said in Amroha, adding that “Modi doesn’t weigh terrorism on the scale of vote-bank”.

“Some people are putting the nation on the line just to get rid of Modi,” the PM said in Amroha, adding that “they are trapping the country through a mix of religion-caste, community and selfish interest.”

Slamming the government led by Akhilesh Yadav till 2017, the PM said, “What was the level of hooliganism and law-order condition in western UP during SP rule? All the criminals had a free hand under the SP government.”

The PM said that the BJP government in the Centre and the state have brought crime in western UP under control.

He said that vote-bank politics has caused a lot of damage to the nation.

In Amroha, the PM also said that the Congress also “insulted” Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar for the “selfish interest of one family”.

“The Congress defeated him in an election and did not let his portrait be installed in Parliament,” he said.

The PM added that it is the vote-bank politics that has forced Congress to praise Babasaheb.

In Saharanpur, the PM raised the issue of reported exodus of a particular community from Kairana.

“Who can forget the arsonist attacks and misbehaviour with traders in Saharanpur? Can you forget the Kairana exodus?” he asked.

He also accused RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary for keeping mum on the atrocities on the people of the region.

At the same time, the PM also said that Muslim women will continue to be oppressed under Congress, BSP and SP rule.

“They will never give their nod to triple talaq law and will try to ensure that the ordinance we bring is never passed,” he said.

Referring to the Congress manifesto on triple talaq, the PM said that the grand old party wants to give bail instead of jail to those who commit such crimes against women.

He also promised the farmers in this sugarcane belt that plants that can help produce ethanol from sugarcane are being set up.

“Once all the plants become operations, there will be no problem for farmers from producing more sugarcane,” he said while accusing SP-BSP of closing the factories down during their reign.

The 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will witness polling in all seven phases starting with 11 April and ending on 19 May.