Narendra Modi invokes ‘Lord Ram’ in last leg

Faizabad: With the portrait of Lord Ram providing the backdrop, Narendra Modi on Monday asked the people living in the “land of Ram” to teach the Cong-ress and those who support it a lesson for not fulfilling poll promises.

Mr Modi skirted any reference to his party’s pet theme of building Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, which is part of the district and epicentre of Ram Mandir movement, but made several references to Lord Ram to exhort people to defeat the Congress, the SP and the BSP and support the BJP.

“This is the land of Lord Ram where people believed in ‘pran jaye par vachan na jaye'’(one may lose life but cannot break promise). Can you pardon those who broke their promises?,” the BJP’s PM candidate said in a rally, referring to the ruling party’s unfulfilled promise of providing 10 crore jobs to people.

He also took on SP, which is in power in UP, and Mayawati-led BSP, saying they are enemies in Lucknow but friends in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Congress approached the poll panel against Mr Modi of using religion for canvassing by putting out Lord Ram’s portrait in the backdrop at his Faizabad rally, and dem-anded registration of an FIR against him as well as derecognition of the BJP. It also raised the issue of Mr Modi’s statements on immigrants.