Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the Congress over "corruption" in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and also said that the party which ruled the country for decades after Independence "worshipped one family".
Addressing an event here, the Prime Minister said the BJP government at the Centre took steps to remove names of fake beneficiaries from government schemes.
"The party that remained in power for decades after Independence, they did only one thing - worship of a family. The freedom did not come due to one family, the country's progress has not been achieved due to one family," he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone of 'Veerangana Rani Durgavati Smarak aur Udyaan' here and unveiled projects of over Rs 12,000 crore.
The 500th birth centenary of Rani Durgavati is being celebrated with great fervour by the Centre.
PM Modi alleged that many of the country's heroes and leaders were forgotten after Independence.
"If any country had a hero like Rani Durgavati they would have celebrated her glory throughout the world. The same should have happened after Independence. But after independence, our heroes, our great leaders were forgotten," he said.
The Prime Minister congratulated the country on the 500th birth centenary of Rani Durgavati.
"A few moments back we did the bhoomipujan of Rani Durgavati Smarak. Her life motivates us to work for one's birthplace. On the 500th birth centenary of Rani Durgavati, I would like to extend my warm regards to the tribal community, the entire Madhya Pradesh and the 140 crore citizens," the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi said projects unveiled in Madhya Pradesh will change lives of lakhs of residents of the state.
"Projects worth Rs 12,000 crores have been inaugurated in the state. Be it a water and gas pipeline or a four-lane road network, it will change the lives of lakhs of people. It will benefit the farmers and new factories will be set up. Youth will get the employment," he said.
He said the government had used technology to tackle corruption and remove fake names from beneficiary lists.
"By using technology, we removed the fake names of 11 crore people. These 11 crore fake names were taking the share of poor people," he said.
The Prime Minister referred to the union cabinet's decision to provide an additional Rs 100 crore subsidy to Ujjawala farmers.
"Now the beneficiaries of Ujjwala will get cylinders for Rs 600 only. The BJP government is working actively to ensure cheap gas through gas pipelines instead of cylinders. That's why we are making the arrangements of gas pipeline to benefit lakhs of people of Madhya Pradesh," he said.
"We gave free gas connection of Ujjwala to crores of women belonging to poor families. Earlier to get a gas connection, people had to roam around the houses of MP...On Rakshabandhan we made gas cylinders cheap...Yesterday, we made Ujjwala gas cylinder 100 rupees cheaper," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled projects of over Rs 12,000 crore in sectors such as road, rail, energy, housing and drinking water in the state.
Madhya Pradesh is among five states that will go to the polls later this year.
—ANI