I will sell tea, not the country: PM Narendra Modi to Congress

JASDAN: PM Modi used his oratorical skills to connect with voters of his home state at an election rally in Rajkot’s Jasdan on Monday. He reached out to Koli voters by underlining that the President belonged to their caste, painted the Congress as opposed to Patidars and claimed the main opposition party never had the welfare of Gujarat at heart. Jasdan has sizeable Koli and Patidar voters. Speaking in Gujarati to a gathering of around 17,000 from six assembly seats of the region, Modi had the crowd chanting his name often during his speech that lasted over an hour. Jasdan has voted for Congress, except in three elections. Modi told the crowd that this was the reason why the rest of Gujarat ‘progressed’, while the area ‘lagged behind’ although the BJP government did not discriminate.

Without naming Ram Nath Kovind, Modi said while people from Gujarat could claim they could call up the PM, now people from the Koli Samaj can “directly dial” the President. “I feel such a sense of pride that the President of India is from the Koli Samaj. People in this democracy gave us the mandate that we could make their man the Rashtrapati.” The Congress candidate is from the Koli community.

Modi claimed the main opposition tried to dislodge a Patel who occupied the chief minister’s seat in Gujarat always. He said Gujarat had four Patel chief ministers and each time the Congress worked to get them removed. Modi alleged that even in the case of Anandiben Patel, Congress created problems that led to her removal. Modi alleged Congress treated Sardar Patel and Morarji Desai unfairly.

“The people of Gujarat have not accepted you and will never accept you,” Modi said, adding that Congress was ‘hurt’ that a ‘chaiwala’ had become the PM. “This was beyond their imagination… Why such hatred for a tea-seller? Modi can sell tea but will never sell the country like you have done. I am a son of the soil.”

PM Modi took digs at Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi and said one who ‘did not know’ what a sapling of gram looked like was talking about agriculture. “Farmers of Gujarat are wise and not growing potato. Else, they would have believed him about potato turning into gold.”