In poll-bound UP’s Gorakhpur, PM Modi talks about double engine govt opening factory shut for 31 years

Prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a slew of projects in CM Yogi Adityanath’s bastion, Gorakhpur, on Tuesday, ahead of the assembly elections next year. Modi highlighted the successful completion of several projects, including the restarting a fertiliser factory that had remained shuttered for 31 years and AIIMS –– both of whose foundation stones were laid by him in 2016. These developments were the result of the “double engine” government of the BJP at the Centre and the state, he said.

In his forty-minute address to a large gathering in Gorakhpur, Modi led a high-pitched attack on the Samajwadi Party, saying that those with “lal topis” (red caps worn by SP workers) were only concerned with “lal battis” (red beacons aloft government vehicles). He said the people must remember that they were a “red alert” for the state, prompting a retort from chief Akhilesh Yadav while addressing ajoint gathering with the Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Singh in Meerut.

“Today, entire UP knows that those with ‘lal topis’ are only concerned with ‘lal battis’. They have nothing to do with your pain and sorrow. These ‘lal topis’ want government for scams, to fill their private coffers, for illegal capturing (of land) and to give free reign to mafias... they want to form the government to show leniency towards terrorists and free rioters from jail. Therefore, remember, red caps are red alert or alarm bells for UP,” Modi said.