JULY 19- It’s prayers vs prayers. A day after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi visited Puri to pray at the Lord Jagannath temple, the Congress party held its own prayers.
While Modi said he prayed to lord for a prosperous India, the Congress asked the Lord to drill some sense into Modi, the man it says is dividing India.
Congress on Thursday prayed that the Lord give “Sad Budhi” (good sense) to BJP leader. “I pray that Lord Jagannath give ‘Sad Budhi’ to Modi so that he will not attempt to divide the country in the name of religion,” said B K Hariprasad, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Odisha. He said Modi had been playing divisive politics which could spell disaster for the country. “BJP’s national election campaign committee chairman should be blessed with good sense to refrain from such kind of politics.”
Hariprasad said Modi’s talk of a bond between Gujarat and Odisha would have no impact on the people as the Odias living in Gujarat, who according to Modi, contributed to the growth of Gujarat, did not have any identity.
“Odias in Gujarat are not given ration cards, voting rights or any other rights availed by any Indian citizen. When Modi fails to give rights to Odias in Gujarat, how can he take care the people of Odisha here,” he asked.
He was addressing a public meeting at Salepur in Cuttack district marking culmination of the Odisha state unit’s week long FIR campaign against the BJD government.
The senior Congress leader criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over “rampant corruption” in the state.
He charged the BJD government with handing over mineral resources to only 40 families in the state while about four crore people suffer from poverty.
Accusing the Naveen Patnaik government of diverting 10 kg of rice every month from each BPL family from their 35 kg monthly quota,” the party had been filing FIRs against the chief minister and the food and civil supplies minister.
“Congress workers with the help of BPL families have filed more than 5,000 FIRs in at least 300 police stations against the BJD government for the diversion,” said party state president Jeydev Jena.
He said the party was planning to move court if the police did not register case against the chief minister for alleged diversion of subsidised rice.
INDIA TODAY
