Modi kickstarts campaign from Bastar, says Congress sympathising with Maoists

Kickstarting his election campaign in Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the Congress of sympathising with Maoists and calling them “revolutionary” and ruining the lives of tribals.

“You people must have seen the Urban Maoists, seated in air-conditioned rooms in cities, who look good, are in good company and enjoy status. Their children study abroad,” he told a public rally here ahead of the first phase of the two-phase election in the state on Monday.

“But while seated there, through remote control, they ruin the lives of the tribal children here,” the Prime Minister said, adding that a bunch of such people were contesting elections this time.

Modi accused the Congress of supporting the Urban Maoists with statements and said: “If the government acts against them, then you (Congress) try to save them.”

Modi said that when the Congress comes to Chhattisgarh, “they speak about freeing the state from Maoists”.

“Should we forgive such people? Those who ruin your life, should we forgive them?” Modi asked the crowd.

Slamming the Congress for describing the Maoist as revolutionary, Modi said: “A cameraman from Doordarshan news named Achutyanand Sahu was killed here a few days ago.

“He had come with a camera and not a gun. He came to share your dreams to the world through his camera but he was killed by Maoists. Three of our troopers were also killed by the Maoists here. But shamefully the Congress calls them revolutionary,” he alleged.

“What kind of language they are speaking. The country will never forgive them. They are only speaking lies and misleading the people of the country,” he said.

Modi also targeted the Congress for considering the tribals, marginalised and Dalits as their vote bank and said they don’t consider them as “humans”.

He said the Congress, despite ruling the country for long, never thought of a tribal ministry.

“It was late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who made a separate tribal ministry and made a separate budget for them,” Modi said.