Opposition alliance an ‘adulterated, club of rich’: Modi

Tiruppur (Tamil Nadu), Feb 10 (IANS) Hitting out at the opposition alliance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday said why they were coming together to fight him even as they claim his government was a failure.

Modi, addressing a rally after inaugurating a slew of projects, called the opposition alliance an "adulterated alliance" and a "club of rich people" to promote a dynasty.

Slamming the 'mahagathbandhan', Modi alleged nobody knows the agenda of the opposition alliance and they don't have worthwhile answers to any question. "The only answer they have for all the questions is 'ask Modi'," he said.

Alleging that the opposition was good at spreading panic and misleading the youth, farmers and other sections of society, the Prime Minister said for a long time the opposition parties had created discord in society on the issue of social justice.

"For us, social justice is an article of faith and not a mathematical formula, the way it is for the opposition parties," he said, adding it was the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee that restored reservation in promotions for SC/STs, a privilege that was scrapped by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre earlier.

On his government's decision to provide 10 per cent reservation to the economically backward sections, Modi said the move was aimed at equality of opportunities to all and would not affect the existing reservation for SC/STs and Other Backward Classes.

He criticised the Congress farm loan waiver scheme saying it would not benefit anybody but would result in an extra burden of Rs 50,000 crore. The Prime Minister for the first time in India's history his government had announced a Rs 6,000 per year income scheme for farmers' holding less than five acres of land.

When the scheme was announced in Parliament the opposition parties were left shocked, he added.

In his address, he also tried to establish a connect with the local audience, quoting from Thirukurual and peppered his speech with local names. He recalled the bravery of Tiruppur Kumaran and Dheeran Chinnamalai.

Stressing his government's zero tolerance on corruption, the Prime Minister said he was providing "Kamaraj Rule" -- a corruption-free rule -- like K. Kamaraj who provided a clean government as Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister.

Modi said the work culture of his government is vastly different from that of the earlier Congress led one. No middlemen roam around in the corridors of power now, which was not the case with the earlier Congress-led governments, he added.

He said the government has scrapped bogus companies and bogus beneficiaries of welfare schemes.

Without naming him directly, Modi took a jibe at former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram as "recounting minister" and said the latter is of the view that all the knowledge in the world resides in him.

Modi said those who had the opportunity to rule the nation for long did not bother to modernise the defence forces as were more interested in deals in import of defence equipment.

He said the Congress had scams from `seas to skies' when it came to the defence sector and alleged every middleman had a link with some Congress leader or other.

The Prime Minister said his government wanted India to be self-sufficient in defence equipment and has set up two defence industrial corridors, including one in Tamil Nadu to provide jobs and opportunities for the youth.

At the beginning, he paid tributes to Tiruppur and the Kongu region as the land of brave and industrious people, mentioning freedom fighter Tiruppur Kumaran who died but kept the tricolour aloft even as British police rained baton blows on him and Dheeran Chinnamalai who fought the British.

Modi said his government's goal is to improve the ease of living for people and cited the proposed expansion of Tiruchirappalli International Airport that can handle about 3,000 passengers at peak hour from 500 passengers now and the ESIC Hospital to come up in Tiruppur.

He said a historic pension scheme for workers in micro, small and medium enterprises in Tiruppur and elsewhere was announced in the recent budget.

Modi was on a day-long visit to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for the launch of developmental projects.

His visit to Tamil Nadu saw a black flag protest led by MDMK leader Vaiko. Vaiko and his supporters were detained as they released black balloons in the sky and shouted "Go back Modi" near the railway station.

During his visit, Modi also laid foundation stones for a new integrated building of the Trichy Airport and for modernisation of the Chennai airport via video conference.