Paresh Rawal also suggested that the Congress was using Patidar leader Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani to salvage political career of Rahul Gandhi. (Express/File) Paresh Rawal also suggested that the Congress was using Patidar leader Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani to salvage political career of Rahul Gandhi. (Express/File)

Actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal on Sunday said that voting “on the basis of caste and creed” in the land of “Gautam Buddha-like Narendra Modi” in the upcoming Assembly elections would be a “sin and moral turpitude”. Addressing a gathering while attending the “Mann Ki Baat, Chaai Ke Saath” event in Rajkot, he asked the audience whether they would like their children to become someone like “PM Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi (Congress vice-president)”.

“Such a man (like Narendra Modi) is difficult to find. Such a man can only come after much worship. Such dynamic persons are incarnations and can’t be produced by politics. If we decide to vote on the basis of caste and creed in the state of a man who has left his family and everything else behind and, like Gautam Buddha, is out to serve the country, we could be ungrateful people. It would be a sin, a moral turpitude. We can’t do it. We are people of the land of Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi,” the MP from Ahmedabad (East) said.

Rawal further said: “Pray to God, remember your patron deity, visualise your parents, recall values your teachers have taught you, put your hand on your chest and then ask yourself honestly a question whether you want to make your son Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi. Vote for the person who is your answer.” The BJP leader also suggested that the Congress was using Patidar leader Hardik Patel, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani to salvage political career of Rahul.

“Narendra Modi, then CM of Gujarat, told me in 2007 that he was out to win election on the plank of development… Then again, when I enquired with him about the agenda of the elections in 2012, he repeated that it was development. You will recall, when Indira Gandhi was trying to make a comeback through the 1980 elections, there was a slogan — ‘Indira Gandhi lao, desh bachao (elect Indira Gandhi to save the country)’. Then came Soniaji and the slogan changed to ‘Soniaji lao, Congress bachao (bring Sonia Gandhi to save Congress). Eventually came, Rahul came and it turned into ‘Alpesh, Hardik, Jignesh lao aur Rahulbhai bachao (Bring Alpesh, Hardik and Jignesh to save Rahul). But Modi’s gaze has remained firmly focused on development,” said Rawal.

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