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Bodeli (Guj), Dec. 1 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a swipe at the Congress over its past 'Garibi Hatao' campaign, claiming that poverty actually increased under the grand old party's rule as it only raised slogans and misguided people instead of doing any concrete work for them.
He was addressing a rally in Bodeli town of Chhota Udepur district in Gujarat, where Assembly elections will be held in its second phase on December 5.
"For decades, Congress has been saying only one thing - Garibi Hatao (eliminate poverty). People gave you power to do that, but you were asking people to remove poverty. The only thing they did was to raise slogans, give promises and misguide people. That was the reason why poverty actually increased during its regime," Modi alleged.
Due to the previous Congress-led government's policies, poor citizens could not play an active role in the economy, he said, adding that although banks were nationalised under the Congress rule, the poor could not open their bank accounts.
The prime minister claimed that poor people, tribals and those from Other Backward Classes (OBC) community were not given priority in education, health and industrial sector by the Congress during its government.
Referring to Droupadi Murmu's election as the President earlier this year, Modi alleged that the opposition party was not in favour of a tribal woman occupying the country's top constitutional post and that was why it fielded its own candidate.
"She (Murmu) is the pride of every tribal family and every citizen. But Congress had opposed her candidature. They did not want a tribal woman as India's president. That is why they have fielded a candidate against her. Otherwise, she would have been elected unanimously," he said.
Voting is underway on Thursday for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats in the state. The remaining 93 seats, including Kalol, will go to polls in the second phase on December 5.