Kurukshetra (Haryana) | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the ‘chowkidar’.
Modi sought people’s support in the campaign while addressing a gathering here at the “Swachh Shakti 2019”, an event to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in the Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a clean and open defecation free (ODF) country by October 2 this year.
The PM also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for six projects, including the National Cancer Institute in Jhajjar, Shri Krishna Ayush university in Kurukshetra and ESIC Medical College and Hospital at Faridabad from here.
“In 2014, you gave your votes for an honest and transparent government. Middlemen and those who snatched the rights of the poor have been eradicated from the system,” Modi told the gathering.
“Every honest person in the country trusts this ‘chowkidar’ (watchman), but those who are corrupt, have a problem with Modi,” he said.
Modi said some people in Haryana are worried over the ongoing investigations by probe agencies against them.
“Even in Haryana, you are witnessing how some people are worried because of probe by investigating agencies,” he said without naming anyone.
There are investigations against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra for alleged irregularities in land deals in the state.
The Prime Minister also mocked the opposition’s proposed grand alliance as “maha-milawat”, saying all the faces in this are indulging in threatening and abusing Modi.
“All the faces of this ‘maha-milawat’ are indulging in competition of threatening and abusing investigating agencies, court and Modi,” he said while assuring that “this ‘chowkidar’ will neither be threatened or browbeaten with their threats and abuses, will neither stop nor bow down”.
“Our ‘safai’ campaign to rid this country of the corrupt and the dirt is going to be further speeded up. For this campaign, your blessings should continue,” the PM said.
The ‘Swachh Shakti 2019’ event partaken by Modi was attended by over 15,000 woman sarpanchs and women across the country and the state associated with the ‘Swachhta’ campaign.
Referring to ‘Battles of Panipat Museum’, the foundation stone for which was laid by him, Modi, in a veiled attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family, said, “Some people think that country’s history started from 1947 and that too with a single family and this has cut the country from the roots of history.”
On his flagship programme of constructing toilets across the country, he said there had been people who had mocked him for speaking about it from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
“At that time those who were in power earlier mocked me, criticised me, called me names, and asked what kind of PM I am for having spoken about toilet from the Red Fort, but those were people who had no concern for the problem and pain of women of the country,” Modi said.
He, however, said that he will continue with his efforts, adding “the taunts of those born with gold spoon do not affect me”.
Modi said 10 crore toilets have been constructed in the last over four years, as he called upon people to ensure they are used so that there is no open defecation.
The PM said a large number of women in rural areas were working hard to ensure cleanliness and credited them for being on the forefront of the Swachhta campaign.
Modi also hailed the efforts of authorities concerned in ensuring cleanliness in the ongoing Kumbh Mela, a mega event which has been visited by crores of people from India and abroad, in Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad.
He said that 5.5 lakh villages in 600 cities have turned ODF, adding that the Swachata campaign is not only helping women get rid of embarrassment and pain but also turning out to be a mode of employment generation.
As per estimates, almost 45 lakh people got employment opportunities under this campaign, he said.
Reminding the promise of Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019, he said, “I want to remind you that on October 2 this year, on Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, we have promised Swachh Bharat by that day. There will be an important role of women in fulfilling this promise”.
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