New Delhi, May 25: Addressing a poll rally in UP’s Ghazipur Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the INDI Alliance of betraying the land of freedom fighters, and blamed the successive Congress and Samajwadi Party regimes for the flourishing mafia in the region, adding that this has become a thing of past under Yogi Adityanath's government.

Holding the grand old party responsible for the backwardness of the region that boasts of many eminent personalities, even after seven decades of Independence, PM Modi said that past Congress governments ensured that development doesn’t reach here.

PM Modi said the development of the region was never a priority for the Congress as even schemes like 'One Rank, One Pension' got cleared only after the NDA government came to power. He said the Congress has great expertise and experience in blocking projects as well as snatching the rights of others.

“Congress had vowed not to develop this area. The people were forced to live in poverty. Gahmari Babu first raised the problem of extreme hardships before Jawaharlal Nehru in the Parliament, but even then the Congress politicised the matter,” PM Modi said.

“Gahmari Babu, with tears in his eyes, had then explained how people of the region had to pick wheat from animal dung,” the Prime Minister said recalling his statements, adding that things changed only after the NDA came to power and started providing free ration to the poor.

Slamming the Samajwadi Party, he said that 'goondas' and mafias mushroomed and thrived during its rule while common men were reduced to margins. The Prime Minister also hit out at the INDI Alliance parties for their alleged attempts to usurp the rights of OBCs, SCs, and STs and hand them over to the Muslim community.

He claimed that the Opposition was banking on ‘vote jihad’ and also referred to the Calcutta High Court, which struck down the West Bengal government’s decision to include more than 70 Muslim groups in the list of OBCs. “Till the time I am alive, I won’t allow anyone to snatch the rights of OBCs,” he asserted.

Hailing the region’s rich legacy, the Prime Minister said, “More than the historians, the nation’s borders are aware of Ghazipur and its contributions to securing the frontiers.” “The land of Ghazipur tells the tales of valour and bravery. The tradition of Ghazipur and Gamhar village... The name itself is enough. The entire country is indebted to this land where brave soldiers emerge from every house,” he pointed out.

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