Vadnagar (Gujarat)
Attacking the Congress on the concluding day of his two-day visit to his poll-bound home state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the UPA government had “hatred” for development and was totally unconcerned about the welfare of the people.

Modi, who once sold tea at the Vadnagar railway station, recalled his journey to Delhi from Gujarat where he was the Chief Minister for 13 years from 2001.

He said he has managed to serve the nation with the blessings of Lord Shiva since 2001 despite some people “spewing venom” at him during these years.

He was apparently referring to the attacks on him during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister after the riots of 2002 in the state.

“Vadnagar has taught me to drink poison,” he said, while noting that his birthplace is the land of Shiva, like Kashi (Varanasi), his Lok Sabha constituency.

Hitting out at the Congress governments at the Centre right from Independence, Modi claimed that such a big country never had any “health policy” which was framed for the first time only when the BJP-led NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee assumed the office in Delhi.

“But unfortunately, the subsequent Congress-led UPA government had strong dislike for development, so the health policy was left to bite the dust. It was only after my government was formed that we revived a new health policy,” he said while dedicating to the nation a 650-bed hospital and medical college set up by the Gujarat Government at Vadnagar in Mehsana district.

It was Modi’s first homecoming since becoming the Prime Minister in May 2014. He was accorded a tumultuous welcome in his native town during a road show from the helipad to the venue of his public meeting adjacent to the medical college ground.

He also visited BN High School, where he had studied, and smeared sand from the premises on his forehead.

Later, he went to the Hatkeshwar Mahadev temple, the ancient temple of Lord Shiva in Vadnagar.