Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday termed the Opposition INDIA bloc a "coalition of political dynasties" and said that the grouping’s leaders formed the alliance to promote their own family members.
Addressing a public meeting in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, Mr Shah said that the main objective behind the formation of the "dynastic alliance" is to ensure the ascendance of the sons, daughters and nephews of the leaders of the grouping in the seat of power.
“(NCP supremo) Sharad Pawar’s goal is to make his daughter (Supriya Sule) chief minister; (former Maharashtra CM) Uddhav Thakre’s aim is to make his son (Aditya) chief minister; (Tamil Nadu CM) M.K. Stalin is keen to make his son (Udaynidhi) chief minister; (West Bengal CM) Mamata Banerjee’s aim is to make her nephew (Abhishek) chief minister and (Congress supremo) Sonia Gandhi’s objective is to make her son Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister,” Mr Shah said.
While the INDIA bloc is promoting family members of the political dynasties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s only aim is to take the poor, dalits, backward and every section of society forward, the Union home minister added.
"There is one team led by Mr Modi and one led by the Congress leadership. The people have to choose between the one leader who worked for all sections of society and those who promoted only their family members," he said.
At the Mandla rally, Mr Shah, quoting the Prime Minister, said that the interests of Other Backward Classes (OBC) will be hit hard if the Congress-led "Ghamandia" (arrogant) alliance wins the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
He called the Congress anti-OBC, saying that the party had put the reports of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission and Mandal Commission on the back burner, harming the interests of the OBC communities.
Mr Shah termed the Narendra Modi government at the Centre "pro-OBC" and said that 27 Union ministers belonged to the OBC communities, while 37 per cent of BJP MPs belonged to backward classes.
The Modi government at the Centre has created the OBC Commission and ensured that all the educational institutions in the country implemented the provision of a 27 per cent quota for the OBC.
On the issue of corruption, Mr Shah said that the Opposition starts making all kinds of allegations against the BJP when some Opposition leader lands in jail.
“Mr Modi had promised before the 2014 general election to put each and every corrupt person behind bars. The corrupt have to go to jail," he said, describing the INDIA bloc as a "conglomeration of the corrupt".
Mounting a scathing attack on the Congress, Mr Shah said that the grand old party ruled the country for nearly seven decades by playing politics of caste and religion and indulging in corruption. But Mr Modi has destroyed caste and dynastic politics and launched a crusade against corruption. The Prime Minister created four new castes -- the poor, the youth, the farmer and the women.
Mr Shah listed out the developmental works and welfare programmes undertaken by the Modi-led government and said that 25-crore poor in the country have moved out of poverty because of the pro-poor policies of the Centre.
The Union minister said that India is now the fifth largest economy in the world and Mr Modi, if given a third term in power at the Centre, will make the country the third largest economy in the world.
Later, Mr Shah also addressed a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh's Katni.
