Rohtak, Sounding a poll bugle in the poll-bound Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday not only presented his government’s report card in the first 100 days of governance but also praised the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in the state for fighting corruption and nepotism.
Appealing to the public to help conserve water by adopting rainwater harvesting techiniques, Modi in his address here, third in past few months, promised to double the farmers’ income by 2022.
“In the last five years, the game of corruption on the land of farmers in Haryana has also stopped. On the basis of such an excellent track record of five years, the whole of Haryana has stood in favour of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) today,” said Modi, who ahead of addressing the rally, inaugurated and laid foundation stones of developmental projects worth Rs 2,000 crore.
The projects included Shri Sheetla Mata Devi Medical College in Gurugram, a mega food park and an industrial model township in Rohtak and the Integrated Command and Control Center in Karnal.
He thanked the people of the state for making the BJP win all 10 parliamentary seats in the general elections.
He said several measures have been taken by the state in the interest of the farmers and the poor.
Praising Chief Minister Khattar, he said the state has been declared ODF and kerosene free and is contributing significantly to the country’s growth.
He said that families in Haryana have become ‘manohar’ (charming) today, a reference to the Chief Minister’s name.
Saying Rohtak has always given him more than what he asked for, he said ‘Manohar’ and ‘NaMohar’ are one and the same.
“People of Haryana often face difficulty in understanding their CM’s name. They get confused between ‘Manohar’ and ‘NaMohar’. I want to tell them that both are equally correct, they are one and the same.”
Modi hoped that the way people supported him in the Lok Sabha elections, they would also support Khattar in the upcoming assembly elections.
Taking the opportunity to remind ISRO’s incredible contributions, Modi said: “At 1.50 a.m. on September 7, the entire nation was sitting in front of TV, looking at Chandrayaan. In those 100 seconds, I witnessed how it awakened and united the entire country. We talk about sportsman spirit, it is ISRO’s spirit in Hindustan now.”
Patting the back of his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, Modi said: “Be it the matter of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh or of worsening water crisis, 130 crore citizens of India have started looking for new solutions to the problems.”
“The past 100 days were the days of change, determination, improvement, and good intention.”
The Prime Minister said he was lucky to have visited Haryana on the day when the NDA government at the Centre was completing 100 days.
The 100 days of the government were of development, belief and change. “Many historic decisions were taken in these 100 days. The number of bills passed during this session was greater than the record of past 60 years.”
Praising the state government, Modi said it is doing commendable job in encouraging girl education.
“The huge number of people present here shows which way the wind is blowing in Haryana,” he said.
“This massive support is the proof of how responsibly Manohar Lal Khattar and his government have served the people of Haryana.”
The Prime Minister’s rally, the first by any political party ahead of the election to 90 assembly seats, also marked the culmination of 22-day and 3,000-km long Khattar’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’.
This was Modi’s first visit to Haryana after getting elected to power for the second term in May this year.
BJP’s state election-in-charge and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and his cabinet colleagues belonging to the state attended the Modi’s ‘Vijay Sanklap’ rally. Also present were the entire Cabinet colleagues of Khattar.
The district administration and the party had made special arrangements to make Modi’s rally eco-friendly.
The administration had installed around 10,000 earthen pots for the people to quench their thirst.
While the main opposition — the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) — has been reduced to a minority as most of its legislators and leaders have joined the BJP, infighting continues to dog the Congress, which ruled the state for two consecutive terms till 2014.
Low-profile Khattar, the first-time legislator, is the first BJP Chief Minister of the state and aims at improving the party’s tally in the Assembly from 48 legislators.
His slogan ‘Mission 75’, meaning winning 75 seats this time, got louder after the party’s stellar performance in the Lok Sabha elections, winning all 10 seats, a first in state’s electoral history.
