Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took a swipe at the Congress, saying those who have zero seats may not be able to count the zeros in Rs 32 lakh crore loans disbursed by the Centre under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana targeted at micro enterprises.
Notably, the Congress failed to open its account in the February 5 assembly polls in Delhi, where the BJP emerged victorious. In the process, the Grand Old Party earned the dubious distinction of scoring a hat-trick of zeros in Delhi assembly polls. The PM, addressing a gathering in Surat city of Gujarat, noted there was a time when the poor were not even allowed to enter a bank if he wanted to take a loan for his small business.
“Banks used to ask for a guarantee against loans. From where a poor person would arrange his guarantee? Thus, a poor mother’s son, Modi, decided to become the guarantor of every poor,” said the PM.
“We have disbursed Rs 32 lakh crore to poor citizens under MUDRA so far. Those who abuse us, those with zero seats may not be able to count the zeros in Rs 32 lakh crore,” said the BJP stalwart, taking potshots at the Congress.
Launched in 2015, the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana is a flagship scheme of the Centre to extend affordable credit to micro and small enterprises. Modi was addressing the gathering after launching a food security saturation campaign in Surat city. He said the Surat Food Security Saturation Campaign will serve as an inspiration for other districts to achieve the goal of 100 percent saturation of various government schemes.
“No one will be unhappy when no one is left behind (in journey of growth). We want to leave behind the system of appeasement and achieve satisfaction. In Surat, nearly 2.25 lakh new beneficiaries have been identified by the administration. Now, they will get free ration under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana,” averred Modi. The PM said he can very well understand the pain of the poor when it comes to securing food. Modi pointed out his government has streamlined the public distribution system (PDS) by weeding out five crore bogus ration cards.
The Centre’s goal is to provide proper nutrition to every family of the country to fight problems like malnutrition and anemia, he emphasised. Targeting past Congress governments, the PM asserted the people of India were tired of hearing the “garibi hatao (remove poverty)” slogan for nearly 50 years.
“People were tired of hearing garibi hatao slogan for nearly 50 years. This slogan was raised in every election campaign, but no one was able to remove poverty. My government succeeded in lifting 25 crore people out of poverty in the last 10 years,” he highlighted. The PM maintained the income tax exemption up to Rs 12 lakh, announced in the Union budget for 2025-26, will benefit salaried class, small businesspersons and workers.
“We took several steps for the middle class too. The latest relief in income tax will benefit salaried employees, shopkeepers and entrepreneurs. Now, they have to pay zero tax on an annual income up to Rs 12 lakh. We did something which others never thought of,” observed the PM.
On the eve of International Women’s Day on March 8 (Saturday), the PM announced he will hand over the operation of his social media account to women to mark the occasion. He maintained countless women had shared their success stories on NaMo app on his appeal. “Tomorrow, on the occasion of Women’s Day, I will handover my social media handles to some of these inspirational women who have played an important role in the development of society as well as the nation. This initiative will inspire other women,” noted Modi. The PM is on a two-day visit to his home state.
