Mumbai, Oct 8 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ignored the plight of flood-affected farmers in the state as he inaugurated the “incomplete” Navi Mumbai International Airport.
“While farmers in Maharashtra are devastated by heavy rains and floods, the prime minister today chose to indulge his publicity obsession by inaugurating an incomplete airport project. He did not utter a single word about relief for flood victims,” Sapkal said.
The first phase of NMIA, the country’s largest greenfield airport built at a cost of Rs 19,650 crore, is set to be operational in December.
Modi also refrained from announcing naming of the new airport after the late D B Patil, a Peasants and Workers Party leader, because he intended to name it for himself, the Congress leader alleged.
“He boasted about himself, criticised the Congress, and inaugurated an unfinished project, but made no announcement about naming the airport after D B Patil,” Sapkal said.
He also asked whether the BJP government has fulfilled its earlier promises.
“What happened to the pledge of creating two crore jobs a year, depositing Rs 15 lakh in every account, 1.5 times the Minimum Support Price for farmers, and 100 smart cities?” he asked.
Responding to Modi’s criticism of the then Congress government’s response to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Sapkal said, “It was the Congress government that split Pakistan into two countries. It was the Congress government that hanged the 26/11 Mumbai attack convict. But the Modi government invited Pakistan’s ISI to investigate the Pathankot attack. Even after 300 kg of RDX was used in the Pulwama attack, the government failed to catch the perpetrators,” Sapkal said.
“Instead of criticising the Congress, Modi should explain why Operation Sindoor was stopped under pressure from the United States. A person holding the office of prime minister should speak and act responsibly on matters of national security. Modi has politicised such sensitive issues for electoral gains, violating the sanctity of his office and oath of secrecy,” he added.
Sapkal also pointed out that several projects inaugurated by Modi remain incomplete.
“Ten years ago, on the eve of the Bihar elections, he laid the foundation stone for the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial at Indu Mill in Mumbai. The work is still unfinished. Ahead of the 2017 BMC (Mumbai civic body) elections, he performed a `water puja’ for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial in the Arabian Sea. That too remains incomplete. Even the Navi Mumbai airport inaugurated today is far from ready. The inauguration was rushed only because local body elections are approaching,” Sapkal claimed.
PM Modi, in his speech after the airport inauguration, accused the Congress of weakening the fight against terrorism when in power.
“If a top Congress leader, who has been a Union minister, is to be believed, the then UPA government buckled under pressure of a foreign country against attacking Pakistan (after 26/11) even though our defence forces were ready….,” he said, apparently referring to P Chidambaram’s recent statement.
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
