Modi rips Rahul apart

I appeal to the people. You have given 60 years to rulers; now give 60 months to this 'sevak' (servant). It is time now for 'sevak.' They think of ways to save the party, whereas we work towards saving the nation. My idea of India is ‘Satyameva Jayate.’ Judge track-record, not tape record

On Modi-can-sell-tea jibe

Every tea vendor in India is proud today. They (Congress leadership) think they are part of a family that has always been respected, and they now have to take on someone from a backward caste. A man whose mother used to clean people's

utensils. A man who once sold tea on trains. How can we stoop to this level, they think.

On Rahul not being PM face

There can be several reasons for running away (from the battlefield) but I see a human angle as well. When defeat is certain, which mother would send her son to battlefield only to be slain? So a mother's heart (Sonia Gandhi) decided that she must save her son

On Rahul’s push for bills

We have heard enough of Acts, but what we need now is action. We do not need doles, we need delivery. We don't just need bills, we need political will and a dil. India needs not just Acts, but action also.

On Rahul claiming credit for Lok Pal

Real credit should go to the anti-corruption activist, Anna Hazare, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

On Sardar Patel

Every Congressman wanted Patel to be the PM, but he was not allowed to become the PM

On AICC session

Congress session was a way to save their party. How to save the party was the issue they discussed.

On Manmohan Singh

In the last 10 years, PM only formed committees, but now country needs commitment not committees. There is a need to lay more stress on participative democracy than on representative democracy.

BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, saying he was running away from contest for fear of defeat in the 2014 elections. He said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had not named her son as the Congress Prime Ministerial candidate as she did not want to pitch her son against a tea-vendor. “Which mother will sacrifice her son in politics?” Modi asked. Since they are “namdaar” (having name) and he is “kaamdaar” (worker), it is below their dignity to have a direct contest with him. Modi accused the Congress of being “high-class elitists with a feudal mindset,” which felt insulted to have a fight with a tea-vendor.

In an aggressive speech at the BJP national council meeting in the capital on Sunday, where Modi unveiled his vision for the country, he came down heavily on his opponents, particularly the Congress dynasty and presented his concept of a strong and vibrant India.

The 70-minute speech of Modi was laced with criticism, jibes, emotions and ambition for the 21st century India, where unemployment, poverty, atrocities against women and insecurity had no place and where commoners like him, including those selling tea, could walk upright. Invoking his past, Modi said that he used to sell tea on trains, while his mother washed utensils in neighbourhood, drawing a contrast between him and his counterpart in the Congress. The BJP Prime Ministerial candidate urged the people to give him an opportunity to serve them for 60 months as a servant. They had given the Congress an opportunity to rule over them as monarch for 60 years. Drawing similarity between the freedom struggle and the 2014 elections, he said, “then the people fought for the Swaraj (Independence) and now they are yearning for Su-Raaj (good governance).”

Playing with words, Modi took jibes at Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying that while they talked of just “Bills,” but what they needed was “political will” and a “dil” (heart). He said that the country needed not just “Acts,” but “action,” referring to the claims made by the Congress on passing the RTI Act and its priority to pass another six anti-graft Bills.

Modi’s lengthy speech basically comprised two components. While the first-half of his speech was devoted to his taking a diatribe against the Congress dynasty and replying to the charges hurled at him by Rahul Gandhi at the AICC Session, in the second-half, Modi unveiled his vision for India in the post-2014 Lok Sabha polls. Modi talked about a strong and vibrant India, where he wanted the country to get rid of poverty. In his plan for better India, he felt that the government needs to give a push to the river interlinking project. He also called for a better railway system to be put in place before the country celebrates the diamond jubilee of its Independence. He talked about creating a real-time data for farmers, the setting-up of Price Stabilization Fund, special courts to deal with black-marketers, need-based skill development courses and the setting-up of NextGeneration Infrastructure.

Besides, Modi promised the formation of water grid, optical fibre network and Railway University. He felt that like China and Japan, they should also have Bullet Trains, at least, in the beginning in all the four directions.

Like Gujarat, he wanted to emulate the example in the entire country and talked of White Revolution. In the health sector, he wanted to shift the focus from health insurance to health assurance, where the priority would be not on sickness but on wellness. His said his vision is to work towards Brand India and ‘5 Ts’ (Talent, Tradition, Tourism, Trade and Technology). He, however, was silent on Inclusive Growth, promised by the Congress.