Urging people of Himachal Pradesh not to repeat the "mistake" of changing the government every five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said taking different ''medicine'' every week will not help in curing the disease and they need to stick to the BJP to bring stability and development in the hill state
If you elect people here who stall development works, nothing will be possible, no matter how much I will try, he said addressing an election rally in Mandi district.
"Changing medicines frequently does not help in curing an ailment. You have to stick to one medicine for a long period to gauge its effectiveness... taking different medicine every week will not help anyone. Himachal Pradesh has made the same mistake," he said, adding if the voters want accountability and answers from the government, they should give BJP another opportunity.
Making false promises and giving false guarantees has been Congress' old trick. It had always remained against not only the country's security but also against the nation's development, he alleged.
"I had felt it while being the CM of Gujarat," Modi said.
He claimed that whenever the Congress came to power in the state, development came to a standstill and asked people to repeat the BJP government for accelerated development in the state.
"Himachal Pradesh, being a small state, was always ignored by the Congress. That party did not consider three-four MPs in the Lok Sabha
"Together, we will take Himachal forward, start a new 'riwaaz' (custom) and bring the BJP back to power," Modi said addressing his first poll rally after the announcement of the November 12 state assembly polls.
On the state's history of not continuing with the same party for a consecutive term, Modi told the gathering, “Remember the time when BJP governments ruled at the Centre and in HP earlier, development works were carried out at a fast pace”.
He said because of some people with “wrong thinking”, the practice of “paanch iske, paanch uske” (five years to one and five years to another) came and development work suffered as the leaders thought they will not retain power after five years.
Modi said after his government came to power in 2014, he wanted all-round development of HP, but at that time the Congress was ruling the state and accused it of creating hurdles in the implementation of central schemes.
“I used to send schemes and funds from Delhi, they used to create hurdles in the same,” said Modi, citing PM Awas Yojana (Urban),
From 2014 to 2017, only 15 houses were built in the state, he stated.
During the BJP- led regime in HP, the work on building 10,000 houses was going on and out of them, 8,000 have been built, he said.
“Now you decide whether you want the government which built 15 houses or the government which built 8,000 houses,” he added, “We are committed to working for you.”
He said after the BJP came to power in 2017, unprecedented development work was carried out in HP and added people have made up their mind to bring back the incumbent BJP to power.
" ..Every single vote which will be cast on November 12 will define the development journey of HP for the next 25 years," Modi said.
He accused the Congress of not fulfilling even a single promise they had made in the election manifesto made in 2012, saying they never even opened the document. He also referred to the promise of abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and the building Ram Temple.
“Did we not fulfill the promise of abrogation of 370? We had promised Ram Temple. Today Ram Mandir is being built,” he said.
He attacked the Congress over the One Rank One Pension, saying despite remaining in power at the Centre for several years, the Congress never implemented it. Modi said that people know BJP means stability, sewa bhaav (service), sambhaav (equanimity), and accords the highest priority to development.
Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi said Himachal Pradesh was the first to receive the target of 100 percent vaccination in the country.
“You can imagine if during the pandemic the Congress was in power what would have happened. The Congress has a history of making people wait for vaccines for the treatment of serious diseases for several years,” he said.
Had the BJP not come to power in 2017, then the work on the Atal tunnel would not have been completed, he said.
He promised more development if the BJP was voted to power again in HP and added work on several infrastructure projects is going at a fast pace.
“There will be more pace in the development works in HP after results are announced on December 8, '' he said.
The BJP government has started working on the next roadmap for the state, he said.