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Muslims have highest per capita income in Guj: Modi

Modi said, "According to the report of the UPA-appointed Sachar Committee, the per capita income of Muslims in Gujarat was the highest in the country.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is almost singularly banking upon 'development' as its poll plank, can get vitriolic if anybody attacks the party, especially chief minister Narendra Modi, who would not let any taunt go by without a fitting reply.

This fact was very much evident at a public meeting in Balasinor, when Modi gave an acerbic reply to PM Manmohan Singh's Monday remark that Gujarat cannot claim to be a developed state with around 1,200 people 'butchered' during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Launching a virtual verbal assault on the remark, Modi said, "Singh should not mislead the people of the country. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, whose chairman is Soniaji, has stated that Gujarat is the best state in the country!"

Taking the issue further, he said: "The Planning Commission had set a target of 9% growth for the state. And Gujarat is the only state to have achieved an average growth of 10.4% in the last five years," Modi claimed, adding, "After all, how can the prime minister overlook the development that has taken place in the state. People in power should not mislead the people of the country," he thundered.

Reacting to another of Singh's remarks that Muslims in Gujarat were economically backward, Modi said, "According to the report of the UPA-appointed Sachar Committee, the per capita income of Muslims in Gujarat was the highest in the country. The Muslims in Gujarat have best education and highest bank accounts as compared to their counterparts in other states," said Modi. 

"Advaniji may not reply to such allegations, but I, though a small man, only a chief minister of a state, will certainly reply," he asserted.

Modi addressed four public meetings in Balasinor, Dehgam, Vijapur and Bayad on Tuesday. He thanked Singh for starting the debate on 'majboor and majboot Prime Minister (helpless and strong PMs) and wished to take it forward.

Mentioning about the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Modi wondered as to why the 90,000 Pakistani soldiers captured by India in Bangladesh were freed. "If we (BJP) would have been in power at that time, we would have taken half of Pak-occupied Kashmir in exchange of those 90,000 soldiers," he said.

Referring to Sonia Gandhi's comment that India is facing more threat from insiders than outsiders, Modi once more raked up her foreign origin issue. "The UPA government has recently said that 30 Taliban terrorists have infiltrated into India. I would therefore like to ask Soniaji if these are insiders or outsiders," Modi said.

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