On the afternoon of Sunday 17th November 2013 Shri Narendra Modi addressed ‘Bharatha Gellisi’, a large public meeting in Bengaluru. Shri Narendra Modi spoke about the importance of the IT sector in India’s development journey and attacked the UPA government, under whose tenure the IT sector has witnessed a slowdown in terms of growth. He also sharply criticized the statement by the Finance Minister on the life patterns of the middle class. He asked whether of not the urban middle class is a part of India and said that it is important the which ever Government it is, it takes note of their concerns. Shri Modi declared that the Congress is sitting on ivory towers and described them as indoor players whereas the BJP Karyakartas are outdoor players who go among the people.
Shri Modi attacked the poor economic situation prevalent in the country under the Congress led UPA government. He affirmed that the Rupee is in the ICU and sectors like the Railways are not witnessing any growth due to lack of innovation and a focus only on vote politics. Similarly, he recalled that the IT sector had begun to shine under the Prime Ministership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose government brought in an IT Act and a new policy on science and technology. He even recalled that it was Atal ji who dreamt of a mission to the moon during his speech at the Red Fort on 15th August 2003. Shri Modi congratulated the youth of the nation, particularly of Bangalore who have made a mark across the world with their excellent in the IT sector.
He stated that under the UPA, their priorities have been different and they have seen everything from votebank politics. Shri Modi gave the example of the Congress government in Karnataka’s first decision after coming to power, which was not related to economic policy but was to repeal the cow protection bill passed by the earlier BJP government. Similarly, he recalled that the first decision the UPA took in New Delhi after coming to power was to repeal POTA and this was guided by nothing but votebank politics. Shri Modi even questioned the incentives being given by the Centre for mutton exporters and said instead that money could be given to the youth of Bangalore who are shining in the IT sector and making India proud all over the world.
Shri Modi affirmed that India’s greatest strengths are democracy and demography but Congress strangles democracy and considers the youth only a voter whereas the BJP views our youth as a power. Shri Modi opined that the development of the youth would be top priority of the BJP and added that the more we empower our youth, the stronger our nation becomes.
Shri Modi talked about the importance of skill development if we want to empower our youth and questioned the seriousness of the Centre towards this field. He shared that a small state of Gujarat has allotted Rs. 800 crore for skill development while the Centre has given Rs. 1000 crore only! Shri Modi also narrated how the Centre formed a National Council on Skill Development in 2008 only to form another committee 25 days later. He added that for years nothing happened on this front and then in 2011 a Skill Development Advisory Office was opened by the Centre and in 2013 all these bodies were dissolved and a Skill Development Agency was made. Shri Modi was speaking about this to demonstrate the lack of seriousness the Centre is giving towards skill development.
On the issue of democracy, Shri Modi said that the Congress neither respects nor believes in democracy. He gave the examples of the emergency, their planned restrictions on social media among other things to illustrate his points. On the issue on banning opinion polls Shri Modi said that the Congress may want to stop opinion polls but people have already formed their opinion. He took on the Centre for rising prices of essential commodities, their failure to provide jobs to the youth and for their misusing of the CBI.
Shri Modi thanked the Karnataka BJP for their hard work in making this rally a success and thanked the people for contributing Rs. 10/- to hear the rally, which would be a contribution for Statue of Unity. BJP National President Shri Rajnath Singh delivered a strong and inspiring speech where he attacked the UPA for rising prices. He urged the people of Karnataka to make the BJP victorious in maximum Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Present on the occasion were former CMs Shri Sadanand Gowda, Shri Jagdish Shettar, Deputy CMs R Ashok, Shri Eshwarappa, Shri Ananth Kumar, Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Shri Thawarchand Gehlot, Shri Prahlad Joshi among other leaders.
