Lok Sabha polls 2024: Modi invokes 'Rama, Shakti' to target Congress in Pilibhit; Varun Gandhi skips rally

Lucknow: On the first day of 'Navaratri', a nine-day annual Hindu festival to honor of Goddess Durga (a form of Shakti), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, held an election rally in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit town on Tuesday.

Prime Minister invoked 'shakti' and Lord Rama to attack the Congress even as the sitting MP from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat Varun Gandhi, who was denied re-nomination, skipped the rally indicating that all efforts to placate him had failed.

''Aaj Navaratri ke pahle din main desh ko ye bhi yaad dila raha hoon ki kaise Congress ne shakti ka apman kiya hai....jis shakti ke agey ham sheesh jhukate hain , us shakti ko Congress ke neta ukhad phekne ki baat kar rahen hain'' (On the first day of Navaratri, I want to remind the country that how the Congress has insulted Shakti....we bow our heads before Shakti and the Congress leaders have vowed to throw her out), Modi said while addressing the meeting.

The prime minister also said that the I.N.D.I.A. bloc was against the Ram temple.

''Congress tried hard to stop construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and when the Temple was constructed with the help of the people, the Congress, which was invited by the Ram Temple Trust in consecration ceremony, the party insulted Lord Rama by declining the invite and expelled its leaders who attended the event,'' he said.

Modi again referred to the Congress' election manifesto and said that it bore the 'imprint' of Muslim League. The prime minister also accused the opposition alliance of being involved in the conspiracy of dividing India.

Modi showcased the schemes launched by the Centre and the state government for the sugarcane farmers and said that new sugar mills had been opened and the old ones had been expanded.

The choice of Pilibhit for the election rally assumed significance in the wake of denial of re-nomination to firebrand saffron party leader and sitting MP Varun Gandhi. Varun, who had been vocal against his own party's governments at the centre and in the state, was conspicuous by his absence in the meeting.

BJP has fielded Uttar Pradesh minister and former Congress leader Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit. The party leadership had made efforts to placate Varun and persuade him to campaign for Prasada but his absence in Tuesday's rally indicated that the efforts had failed.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the party nominees from the nearby Lok Sabha constituencies of Bareilly and others were also present at the rally.