PM lays foundation for atomic energy plant, criticises Congress over past regime flaws

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the 2800 MW Atomic Energy Plant in this tribal dominated region of Rajasthan, while launching a strong verbal attack against the Congress for negligence in both arenas – the energy generation as well as the tribal welfare-under its previous regimes.

Addressing a huge public meeting after laying the foundation stone for the atomic energy plant in Napala village on Thursday, Modi did not spare the grand old party for taxation hazards under its previous regimes and also alleged exploitation and loot of the poor people.

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The PM asserted, “Today the nation has been progressing rapidly and the reason is, the country has been working hard on implementation of power projects, that too on generation of clean green energy”.

Today, the fourth day of Navratri belongs to Maa Kushmanda- the deity of the source of infinite divine cosmic energy, he said, adding on this auspicious (energy) day, power projects involving investment of Rs 90,000 crore were launched in the country – in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.

“Most of these projects are for clean or renewable energy. This means that from solar to atomic energy, we have taken a big leap for enhancing energy availability in a single day today, recognising the importance of the energy (electricity)”, PM said.

“However, the Congress-led previous regimes had never recognised the importance of energy generation and the need to accord higher priority to power projects”, Modi quipped.

“The situation was so miserable before 2014 that there was not even a single electric post (pole) in as many as 18,000 villages of the country, and people were used to face prolonged power cuts, especially in rural areas,” PM said.

With people’s blessings (mandate), we have resolved to transform the scenario, in 11 years expanded electricity network provided free power to 2.5 crore households and now shortage of electricity seems to be phenomenon of the gone era, Prime Minister Modi said.

He also slammed the Congress for apathy towards the elevation of the lives of tribal people and their areas, saying the towering leaders of the past era had never bothered for tribal people, always turned a blind eye to their needs and cause.

“They (Congress ) did not even imagine that huge projects and development activities might someday be launched in tribal areas. The Congress people would not show any concern for you, the tribals, who are present in large numbers in the audience,” PM said.

“It was the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government that opened an independent ministry for tribal welfare. It was the ruling BJP’s efforts and vision that installed the daughter of a backward tribal group as the President of India (Droupadi Murmu) and launched a welfare program, the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN), based on her vision,” Modi said.

Keeping on potshot at the grand old party, PM also highlighted his government’s “pro-people money saver initiative” by way of the GST reforms and asserted that it was the incumbent government’s policy since the GST implementation in 2017 that freed the common man from taxation hazards and “loot” under the previous Congress regimes that had only exploited people miserably.

Elaborating his stance in simplified way, he said, “The previous Congress regimes used to charge tax of Rs 31 per hundred (rupees) of a purchase”.

While promulgating GST in 2017, we brought down the tax from Rs 31 per hundred to Rs 18. Then, while bringing GST reforms with effect from September 22, this has brought down the rate to Rs 5 per hundred. Now the purchase of an item of Rs 100 would cost the buyer 105 instead of Rs 131. This is for essential items of day-to-day use.

Likewise, the cost of items like footwear to motorbikes, to goods used in construction of house has also been brought down considerably, leading to big savings for the common man every month, Modi asserted.

Even in praise for the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP government in Rajasthan for its sincere and honest performance, the Prime Minister did not spare Congress from barbs.

He said, “The state government has been working honestly and making all efforts in healing “wounds” rendered to people by the previous Congress government.

He deplored the previous regime for failures in cases of paper leaks, corruption in the Jal Jeevan Mission(JJM) and the “bad law and order”, particularly in context of crimes against women.