NEW DELHI:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on Thursday said
opposition parties
have from the third phase onwards returned to blaming
EVMs
and raising questions about turnout figures after sensing their defeat, and their objective is not just to invent an excuse but shame
Indian democracy
“After the third phase, issues about EVMs are being raked up. They have now entered the fray.
There has been chest-beating also on polling figures. This is a well thought out strategy to defame Indian democracy… which is so lively, aware and its process is so transparent… People of the country should understand this conspiracy. It is not about EVMs but a ploy to defame Indian democracy,” the PM said.
“This whole exercise is being done also with another purpose. I, after being elected as Prime Minister for the third time, will join the senior-most group of leaders in true democratic countries. And those questioning the EVMs have already started their calculations,” he added.
The PM was speaking at the ‘
Salaam India
‘ show organised by India TV at the Bharat Mandapam here.
He also took a swipe at the opposition parties over their aggressive 400-paar slogan suggesting that he managed to trap them with his ambitious target. “They all got busy claiming that Modi will not cross the 400-seats mark. “We were already 400 in strength in Parliament during the last five years, given the support that we got from other parties. Any child who gets 95% marks will naturally strive for a higher target,” he said.
Modi hit out at
Congress
and other opposition parties for complaining that they have not been given a
level-playing field
in this elections. He recalled how the then Chief Election Commissioner (TN Seshan) postponed polling across the country in 1991 for 22 days after Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991, when only one round of polling was over. Elections were postponed till mid-June and voting finally took place on June 12 and 15. “Was that a level-playing field?” asked Modi.
“Normally, when a candidate dies, election in that constituency is countermanded. But in 1991, elections across the country was postponed and polling resumed only after the funeral of the departed leader was widely publicised… The same person (Seshan), after retirement, fought against our party president ( LK Advani) in Gandhinagar in 1999 on a Congress ticket,” Modi said.
Asked why two serving chief ministers (in Delhi and Jharkhand) were jailed when the election process was on, Modi replied, “We did not send them to jail. The courts sent them.”
In response to a question based on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s claim that he has been framed and the Enforcement Directorate has not recovered even a 25 paisa coin from him, Modi said, “He has been an officer. He is familiar with the ways of the investigating agencies and knows how to dodge them.”
On Mani Shankar Aiyar’s remark that India should accord respect to Pakistan because it has atom bombs, Modi, in a light-hearted manner replied, “I’ve myself gone to Pakistan and checked their power. I landed in Lahore without any security checks, and one of their TV reporters was saying, ‘Hai Allah, Modi has landed in Pakistan without any visa’. Yes this was in their live debates. Why can’t I go to Pakistan? It was part of our country at one time.”