Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to voters in Darjeeling to give him 60 months to right what he called the wrongs of 60 years of Congress misrule.
Addressing a rally in Darjeeling, Modi touched on issues close to the heart of local residents. He urged them to give him a chance.
“I have come to make a special request to the people of West Bengal today. My brothers and sisters of West Bengal, you have chosen rulers for 60 years. Now, give a chance to a servant once. You have given 60 years to the Congress, try giving me 60 months,” he said.
Modi also said the responsibility of absorbing migrants from Bangladesh could not be limited to West Bengal only. The whole nation needed to share this burden, he added.
“The people who have been forced out of there (Bangladesh), who do not have any mother other than India, those children will have to be taken care of by Mother India. But, it is not necessary that they have to be taken care of by Assam or West Bengal or Darjeeling. The entire country will have to take responsibility for them,” said Modi.
During his speech, Modi also touched on the sensitive issue of Gorkhaland, hinting that he supports the people’s demand for a separate state.
“I want to tell my Gorkha friends that your dreams are ours too,” said Modi.
He also took a dig at the Congress, calling it a party of ‘black magicians’.
“This is black magic, like the magic in which magicians make a car disappear from the stage,” he said.
They (Congress) have made the employment of youth disappear. These black magicians have made the life of farmers living hell; these black magicians have stopped taking care of my northeastern children in Delhi,” said Modi. (ANI)