Deoria (Uttar Pradesh): Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and called for a tough stand on terrorism as he went on a whirlwind election tour of eastern Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
Though he did not spew venom against the minorities for which he is widely known, he linked the rise of terrorism with a section of the minorities and hit out at the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for "soft pedalling" on terrorism.
Dismissing the UPA as a "spent" and "fast disintegrating force" and terming the Third Front as "non-existent", Modi said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would emerge strongest in the polls.
The BJP's star campaigner made it a point to raise the issue of terrorism at each of his rallies in Ballia, Salempur and Bhadohi.
Terrorism can be tackled only by force, he declared amid cheers. "If we fail to crush terrorism, our country will be completely ruined."
"Manmohan Singh got elected (to the Rajya Sabha) from the terror-prone northeastern state of Assam, but he could neither bring an end to repeated bomb blasts there nor could do much to bring about development in that backward region," he said.
Accusing the prime minister and the UPA government of appeasing the minorities, Modi recalled Manmohan Singh's remarks on Muslims. "The prime minister of this country goes on record to say that Muslims have the first right over this country's resources. It would have made sense if he had given the first right to the poor," he said.
"It was so shocking that some UPA leaders like Ram Vilas Paswan had gone to the extent of promising Indian citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants, without realising that any such move would adversely affect the interests of our own poor people."
Meanwhile, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said of Modi's remarks that the Congress is spent and growing old, "He is spot on. Advani has grown too old. Modi must replace him."
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