Gandhinagar: Gujarat chief minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today told the Indian diaspora of the United States that the Congress government at the Centre has effectively demolished former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream of making India as the superpower in the 21st century.
Addressing them via video-conferencing, Modi said, the whole world was looking at India during Vajpayee's tenure as the emerging superpower of the 21st century, but with the end of NDA regime, that dream has now broken to pieces (sapna choor-choor ho gaya).
Modi said, it was now for the people to decide whether this government which has brought misfortune should go or not.
"The issue in this election is not who will grab power, but how India will re-emerge", Modi said.
"Those who pose themselves as defenders of the Congress are raising issues which have no relevance. Some vested interests have taken control of the country to ensure that India remains under the clutches of Congress forever. That's why they are diverting the attention of people from real issues", the Gujarat chief minister said.
"The common man wants change in the forthcoming 2014 elections. And look at the arrogance of the government at the Centre. Despite elections being close, this government does not feel itself responsible to give its performance report for the last 10 years", said Modi.
Praising BJP governments in MP and Chhattisgarh, Modi said: "In MP, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has placed his performance report before the people, in Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh is placing his performance report before the people. But the Congress at the Centre, instead of giving its performance report, is seeking performance report from Modi.
"Modi has already given his performance report to the people in 2012. And the people of Gujarat passed him with distinction", said the BJP PM candidate.
Modi said, the groundswell of support for BJP across the country today is the result of the party's "glorious past".
"Had the people not seen the performance of NDA government under Atalji and Advani, people would not have trusted BJP. People have now seen the work done by Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Sunderlal Patwa in MP and by Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh. In Rajasthan, where the Congress is in power, people remember the tenure of Vasundhara ji", said Modi.
"You compare the work of any state government in the country, and BJP state governments will come on top", claimed Modi.
Modi condoled the death of several Gujaratis in Saturday's deadly terror attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi, saying 'This is a new form of terrorism. Forces believing in humanism should now unite against terrorism, but unfortunately some countries have been selective about their fight against terrorism". He was clearly referring to Pakistan.
