Modi in Gujarat: 'Vote for any BJP candidate is a direct vote for me'

In a last ditch attempt to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party wins all the 26 seats in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sought the blessings of his “own people” and said that a vote for any candidate of the BJP was a direct vote for himself.

Modi was addressing an election rally in Patan in north Gujarat, 52 kilometers away from his birth place Vadnagar.

The campaigning draws to a close at 5 pm on Sunday as Gujarat votes on April 23.

Delivering his entire speech in Gujarati, Modi said that the country had decided to bring him back to power but any deviation in the tally from Gujarat would lead the media to question as to what went wrong in Gujarat. They will not discuss the victory at the national level, but will discuss Gujarat, Modi said. “Whose responsibility is to protect your son? Will you take up the responsibility?”, he asked.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had swept all the 26 seats.

The BJP candidates from Mehsana, Patan and Banskantha Lok Sabha seats, and Unjha assembly seat were present.

The prime minister said that like on good occasions we seek the blessings of elders, he had come to seek the blessings of the masses. “Give such blessing that the country does not get a chance to taunt me,” he said.

Like you have a right over me, don't I have a right over you, he asked the gathering, which quite naturally nodded in affirmative. Striking an emotional connect with the people of Patan and nearby areas, Modi mentioned the names of places he had stayed in the past. He also went on to mention the name of one photographer—Natwarlal Suthar of Patan—in whose studio he claimed he had his first formal photo clicked.

The prime minister said that there is no corner in Gujarat that hasn't left an impression on him.

The prime minister also said that when Rani Ki Vaav got the World Heritage Site status and it was printed on the currency notes, the people were not required to come and give memorandum to him. “It happened because your son was at the Centre,” he said.

Modi said that the party had asked him to take care of the entire nation and not come to Gujarat. “I have come here so that I can meet you all,” he said.

The prime minister once again made his stand clear against terrorism saying that in this fight either he will survive or terrorism will survive.

He also took a jibe against the Congress by saying that now they have stopped questioning the air strikes following reports that the move backfires. “What Manmohan Singh did as the prime minister after 26/11 attack in Mumbai, would you have tolerated had I done the same thing after Pulwama attacks,” he said. Modi once again brought in the armed forces into the discussion and said that it wasn't “just like that” that our pilot came back home in 24 hours. Terrorism, he said, had become limited in a couple of districts of Jammu and Kashmir. According to him, they still keep attempting but succeed only once in 100 attempts.

The prime minister also blamed the previous Congress regimes and alleged that the they failed to update the equipments of armed forces. He claimed that now a canon placed at Nadabet, Kutch, can target a house 48 kilometers inside Pakistan.

He also spoke about the economics progress made by India and the improvement it made in world rankings under his government. Modi also said that when the new government is formed on May 23, they will have a separate ministry for water.

In a tactical move, Modi mentioned twice the name of Jaynarayan Vyas who had been sidelined by the party. The prime minister mentioned how for the first time he understood economic aspects of the country from Vyas, a former minister in Gujarat and an expert on Narmada.