Kanpur live: Modi slams Sonia and Rahul, calls Cong divisive

20.13 Nitish slams Modi, says progress only by binding people In a veiled attack on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said that “efforts to create a certain atmosphere” in the country would not succeed and progress could be achieved only by “binding everyone”. “I am fully confident the effort being made today to create a certain atmosphere in the country, won’t last long,” Kumar said, after releasing a book on Socialist leader George Fernandes here today. “The country is vast. There are all kinds of people. The country can progress only by taking everyone along… Not by leaving out someone but by binding everyone,” Kumar, whose party JD(U) pulled out of the NDA following Modi’s elevation as BJP’s Election Campaign Committee chief, said. “You are well aware of the condition of the country today. It is not hidden from you… But we should do our work with determination,” Kumar said. 18.06: Foreign policy not based on low level jingoism, says Khurshid Salman Khurshid today retorted to Modi’s biriyani remarks saying India’s foreign policy is not base on jingoism. “Our foreign policy cannot be based on low level jingoism,” Khurshid said. 16.30: The Congress broke us, we will join everyone The “divisive mindset of the Congress” comes in for sharp criticism.  “Everywhere  they went, they have created cleavages  – first the country, then classes, castes, society, they have only broken us. We need a politics that merges, brings  people together.” Modi ends his speech with a promise to the people who have gathered – “I will return the love you have shown me, many times over.” 16:25: Governments have only one religion - India First Much has been said about the softening of Modi’s hardline Hindutva image. He speaks at some length about the hollowness of secularism as it is practised by the Congress, calling it a tool the Congress falls back on in the absence of any concrete work. “I beliieve Hindus should become good Hindus, Muslims good Muslims, Sikhs good Sikhs… this will build a good India,” he says. The BJP dares to seek votes on issues of development alone, Modi says.  Governments should have only one religion, that of putting the country first. “India First”. A BJP government can offer equal access to development for all, he says. 16.23: Food Security Act or Hunger Perpetuation Act? The theme of poverty and hunger continues. Governments should be for the poor, Modi says. A government that is a purchasable commodity for the rich is of little use. In perhaps his sharpest criticism of the Food Security Act till date, he then goes on to call it a  law to keep people hungry. “The government of proposing to give adults even less rations than children get through the mid-day meal scheme,” he charges. 16.20: “The government says the files are missing, I say the government is missing.” It’s time to hit out at the Congress government, Rahul Gandhi and the UPA. A bureaucrat accused by the government’s top investigating agency says if he’s being accused in an FIR then the prime minister too should be made an accused, he says. After more on the coal scam and the ensuing embarrassment to the government, he then takes potshots at Rahul’s “Poverty is a state of the mind” statement. Those who have experienced poverty We have been born in poverty. We have lived poverty. We have experienced their pain." 16.15: Government’s accountability to the people a key to governance, he says Modi is now speaking about accountability of governments. He gave a complete account of what his state government has accomplished in December 2012, he says. The 2014 elections are to the Lok Sabha. INstead of giving the people of India a report of work done, they are pointing to Gujarat and Modi, but elections in Gujarat took place in 2012, and he passed “with distinction”, he points out. 16.10: The state government of UP, its law and order situation are next targets The theme till now was a ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’, for which the clarion call must go up from UP, he said. Now he turns next to the state government – the Samajwadi Party that props up the UPA from outside and whose allegiance to the Congress is easily won. Over 5,000 innocent people have died in the past two years in riots, Modi says. In fact, Modi adds, if you remove six years of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s rule, then this state has seen nothing but decay. “When a UP youngster travel by train in UP, his parents keep calling him to ask about his security and safety. The son keeps assuaging her fears. When the son says the train has entered Gujarat, that’s when his mother finally sleeps in peace.” 16.00:  “The Congress has failed you, but won’t admit it” Modi is now speaking of failed promises – inflation was to have been brought down in 100 days. “Did the PM or Sonia ever express regret for not being able to do so? Has her  sahebzaada  spoken on it?” He says the Congress party’s arrogance will be its undoing. This strikes a chord – prices, inflation, unkept promises, a party that does not care for the voice of the millions, clearly the lakhs in the audience are liking what they’re hearing. 15.55: “I’m seeing a wave of love everywhere.” Modi at his crowd-winning best: “Do you want your children to live the same life of struggle? Do you want to secure a bright future for them? Then make a resolution today, to not permit those who destroyed you to destroy your children’s lives." Lakhs of people are on their feet. He has already promised to ensure that the effort each one of them has put in by waiting in the sun for hours will not be wasted. “I’m seeing this wave of love in every corner of the country. And alongside, the Congress party that has destroyed the country is  facing the people’s anger everywhere,” he says. 15.45: Rajnath speaks on Muzaffarnagar riots  The Samajwadi Party should not be called “Sa-Pa” but “Da-Pa” for Dangal (riots) party, he adds, having railed against the state government. Every community has suffered from the riots that took place recently, Singh says. He is right – and that holds true for the political parties too. With the electorate more confused and polarised than ever in the recent past, reaching out to riot victims will be key, say observers. 15.35: Dear PM, don’t let our jawans be killed, says Rajnath Rajnath Singh introduces the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate to the state “without whose blessings the country’s fate cannot be changed”. Modi stands up, trusted confidante Amit Shah, who he has put in charge of the campaign in Uttar Pradesh, is beside him. The crow roars its approval as Rajnath Singh asks them to give Modi their blessings. Rajnath’s speech returns to the familiar subjects of infiltration by Pakistan and China. Don’t let our jawans be killed, he declares to the prime minister. 15.25: Modi arrives by chopper, Rajnath Singh addresses rally  There are huge traffic jams outside the venue. Announcers say vehicles carrying supporters have been stopped, but thousands have made the journey anyway, on foot. Modi himself has just arrived by helicopter. Party president Rajnath Singh who has arrived with Modi speaks next. 15.15: Kalyan Singh concludes his speech, Modi to arrive shortly Kalyan Singh has spoken of everything from corruption to progress to farmers’ welfare to health / eduation to the Mandal Commission – nothing has caught the crowd’s fancy yet. One can hear the restive audience chanting and shouting. A final crowd-rousing tactic works: “Will you ensure victory for the BJP? Will you vote Modi to be PM? Will you press the button next to the lotus symbol? Yes we will, we will we will.” The former UP chief minister also predicts that the BJP will win 57 of the 80 UP seats, and that the SP and BSP would be reduced to 8 and 9 seats respectively, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. 14.55: Jai Jai Shri Ram, says Kalyan Singh  Former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh starts his speech with his trademark Jai Shri Ram, Jai Jai Shri Ram chant. There are lakhs in the audience by now, at least 2 lakh have gathered. The mood is electric. “Even 60 years after Independence, we remain slaves,” he says. “It’s god’s kindness that we have among us a man named Modi.” He goes on to describe the Gujarat chief minister as a leader not hungry for power, keen to work for the country. 14.30: Kanpur plastered with posters, mood begins to build up Here’s what some of those pamphlets and directions to the Modi rally in Kanpur look like. https://twitter.com/4VipinRana/status/391404702321360896 https://twitter.com/YuvaiTV/status/391397771556581378 Apart from these, the minority  cell of the state BJP has also been working hard to ensure a that sizeable number of Muslims attend the rally, to underscore the perception of Modi’s rising acceptability. About half hour to go now before the first speakers start. 13.30: Security stepped up for Kanpur rally Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the rally with a cloak of security thrown over Buddha Park and surrounding areas as well as near the airport and along the route  to the rally venue. At least seven officials of the rank of superintendent of police, eight assistant superintendents of police, 40 police inspectors and 700 constables, besides 100 women constables are providing bandobast for the BJP rally in Kanpur, said senior police officers. Other preparations? As  Firstpost reported  earlier, scores of LED screens dotting the venue for the backbenchers,  a vaastu compliant stage that is 100-feet long, separate space for state-level BJP leaders and MLAs who will not share the main stage, astrologers and Vedic prayers at the site of the rally, two  snakes made of silver buried precisely below the stage to cast off any evil eye, all this and more for Narendra Modi’s first UP rally ahead of the 2014 polls. 13.10: 70,000 voice messages, 15 lakh text messages have gone out For those who came in late, and for anybody who may have, incredibly, missed the barrage of messages about Modi’s latest rally, it’s going to be held this evening in Kanpur’s Buddha Park ground. More than 70,000 people in Kanpur have received voice messages about Saturday evening’s rally, courtesy the “Overseas Friends of the BJP (UP)” under the guidance of their UP state convenor Nitin Bhargava and co-convenor Yashvendra Singh. This team also sent out 15 lakh text messages, apart from printing 100 banners of the Overseas Friends and planning a live streaming of the speech on their state BJP’s website www.BJPUP.org for those who can’t make it to Kanpur. For the less tech-savvy, there’s a simple call-this-telephone number assistance to listen to his speech live. [caption id=“attachment_118185” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] 12.45 pm: Unprecedented preparations in Kanpur A couple of hours from now, all roads in Kanpur will lead to Buddha Park, where the biggest war cry of the 2014 Lok Sabha election is set to go up. This is the battleground where the country’s next prime minister could be picked, with its 80 Parliamentary constituencies and every indication that there could be a big, big swing away from the Samajwadi Party currently ruling the state government and also away from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s own poor showing in this all-important state in recent years. So it’s little wonder then that for prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s inaugural Uttar Pradesh rally, the party has pulled out all stops. From a brand new name for Modi’s Mission Uttar Pradesh – it’s now called ModifyUP – and almost a month of planning everything down to the final detail of even the Vaastu compliance of the stage to a new Facebook page, also called ModifyUP, that will keep people updated of all rallies and other political events for the BJP in the state in the run-up to 2014, this might be the largest ever planning for a political rally, likely to outshine even the multi-crore bill rumouredly incurred for Modi’s first Delhi rally. There’s even a single name for all Modi rallies in Uttar Pradesh from now on – Vijay Shankhanaad, loosely translated as the victory bugle. (The shankh, as you know, is actually the conch, its sound or naad a mandatory accompaniment to the traditional flag-off for battle.)