‘They want to strike at me, but I want to strike at terror’: PM Modi

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Updated: Mar 05, 2019 15:04 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his attack on the opposition on Tuesday and questioned their resolve to take on terrorism.

PM Modi said the opposition a group which has come together only to target him. “The opposition wants to get rid of me. They want to remove Modi, I want to remove corruption. They want to strike Modi, I want to strike terrorism,” Modi said in Ahmedabad on Tuesday after launching the ‘PM Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana’ pension scheme for unorganised sector.

He said the opposition is restless because he has got rid of the “middleman culture”. “They (the opposition) are shouting because their shop has shut. So now they are screaming ‘Modi hatao, Modi hatao’ get rid of me. But This chowkidaar stands strong in his resolve,” Modi said.

Also read:‘Use common sense’: PM Modi lashes out at Oppn over Rafale attack

Modi has taken an aggressive stand against the opposition since the Indian Air Force carried out airstrikes on terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad’s largest camp in Pakistan at Balakot on February 26. He had targeted the opposition on Monday too during his rally in Gujarat’s Jamnagar. He had said that the Rafale fighters would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the aerial with Pakistan a day after the strike at the Jaish camp.

The PM had accused past regimes of failing to crack down on terrorism and questioned the opposition for indulging in vote-bank politics. He claimed that he would not hesitate to hunt down terrorists in their safe havens if India was attacked.

In an apparent dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi on Tuesday said only those oblivious to sleeping hungry at night can think that poverty is a state of mind. He said for some people, poverty is just an “opportunity to click photos”. Rahul Gandhi, in a rally in 2013, had said “poverty is just a state of mind” which was criticised by his opponents.

“This (pension) scheme is aimed at uplift of the section of society which has been ignored and left at the mercy of God. They (Congress) gave slogans of garibi hatao (end poverty). They ruled the country for 55 years and collected votes in the name of poor,” Modi said.

Also read: Will hunt down terrorists on their own turf, says PM Modi in Gujarat