Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the voters in Uttar Pradesh have got an opportunity to perform last rites.

Blaming Akhilesh Yadav for “sleeping over” the demand for justice by a “beti” in the rape case against Gayatri Prajapati, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the voters in Uttar Pradesh have got an opportunity to perform the “pind daan” (last rites) of their “tormentors".

He also said that unlike the BJP, its opponents believed in “kuch ka saath, kuch ka hi vikas (with a few, development of a few)".

“In this country, when we do something good, we chant the Gayatri Mantra. But, the SP-Congress alliance is chanting the Gayatri Prajapati Mantra."

“A case has been lodged against him (but) the chief minister went to campaign for him while he (Gayatri) was present there...Now, the police cannot trace him,” Mr. Modi told an election rally here.

“A daughter is seeking justice and the chief minister is shielding the gunehgaar (guilty)...What bigger blot can there be than this that in Uttar Pradesh, when a buffalo goes missing, the government runs to find it.

But, a girl is crying for justice and the police and chief minister are sleeping...Such a government needs to be punished,” he added.

Prajapati was present at a poll meeting addressed by Mr. Akhilesh at Amethi, from where he is re-contesting on an SP ticket, even after he was booked at the behest of the Supreme Court in the cases of alleged rape of a minor girl and alleged gangrape of her mother.

Mr. Modi’s buffalo remark was in the context of the Uttar Pradesh police running from pillar to post to track down the milch animals of state minister Azam Khan which were stolen.

Mr. Modi alleged that while the BJP went by the “sabka saath, sabka vikas” mantra, the aim of its political opponents was “kuch ka saath, kuch ka hi vikas” and stressed that peace, unity and brotherhood alone could usher in development.

Calling on the electorate to vote for the saffron party, the prime minister said, “You have got an opportunity to perform the pind daan (last rites) of your tormentors in the last phase of polling on March 8.

...You are getting an opportunity to perform the pind daan of those, who have committed sins with Uttar Pradesh and ruined the state, by voting for the BJP, Apna Dal and Bhartiya Samaj Party, and send them packing,” he said.

Road-show

Seeking to rally voters around the BJP in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday led a road-show through the winding roads of his Lok Sabha constituency here amid a huge crowd of supporters.

He also paid obeisance at two temples.

The road-show started from the Banaras Hindu University after Modi paid tributes to the statue of noted Hindutva ideologue Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya there.

People turned out in large numbers as the prime minister’s cavalcade moved at a snail’s pace. ‘Subah Banaras, sham Banaras; Modi tere naam Banaras’ and ‘Modi, Modi’ slogans were raised by the supporters as he waved at them.

Modi later offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath and Kaal Bhairav temples, two foremost Hindu holy places in the ancient city.