I have tightened the screws on those who have looted India: PM Modi

CHENNAI: The VVIP chopper scam made its inevitable entry in electoral discourse when Prime Minister Narendra Modi told poll rallies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu that some people were criticising him in Delhi because he “tightened the screws on those who looted” the country.

Addressing a rally in Chennai he asked his audience: “Do you have relatives in Italy? Do I have relatives in Italy?” After securing a loud “no” from the people he added, “the Italian court doesn’t know us. We don’t have relatives in Italy. But the Italian court is saying they were involved in AgustaWestland.” Implicitly referring to the Congress, which took out a ‘Save Democracy’ march in New Delhi on Friday against the BJP-led government, Modi said: “They are shouting against us because we have taken steps that have made the lives of those who loot too difficult.

Whenever you hear loud criticism about me, please understand that I have tightened the screws on them,” he said.

He said the UPA government was a “magician among magicians” who drew money from thin air. Those 2G people are here too,” he said, in an apparent reference to the DMK whose party leaders are undergoing trial in the case. Modi claimed people in Delhi were able to distinguish between a good and bad government.

“The former government made laws and blindfolded people; I am destroying the maze of unnecessary laws that bind and harass people. We think about earning revenue from coal so that the poor would benefit, but they wanted to make money from coal. We auctioned of 2G, 3G to get money for the government to run Digital India.” Previous governments announced schemes in Vigyan Bhavan and the schemes remained in Vigyan Bhavan.

“We have ensured that every scheme has a road map that benefits the last man in the line,” he said. Urging people of Tamil Nadu to vote for the BJP, he said: “It is clear that the people of Tamil Nadu want to have a better future. Tamil Nadu needs to think about the lives of the youngsters trapped between the two Dravidian parties.”

Modi, however, refrained from personally attacking AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha or DMK chief Karunanidhi.