Raigarh (Chhattisgarh)/IBNS: In a blitzkrieg against the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday alleged that the grand old party provided a “hollow poverty alleviation guarantee” more than five decades back and has been contesting every election on that plank right from the time of Indira Gandhi's premiership.

Addressing a public meeting in this district headquarters of election-bound Chhattisgarh, the Prime Minister quipped, “Had successive Congress dispensations worked properly then Modi would not have had to toil! There was a time when this state had the dubious distinction of being synonymous with Left-wing extremism.”

Alleging that a conspiracy has been hatched against “our faith and country,” the Prime Minister said that those who have been kept away from the saddle for the past nine years are so full of hatred that they have opened a front against “our identity” and culture.

“The power-hungry Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is a haughty combined hell-bent on annihilating Sanatana culture that has united Bharat for millennia. Sanatana culture is where Lord Ram addressed Shabri as ‘mother’, embraced a boatman and an army of vanaras enhanced Lord Ram’s strength. It accords importance to the individual and not to birth,” he underlined.

The state’s present "propagandist" Congress regime believes in mouthing "empty words" and the youth have been the worst sufferers, PM Modi claimed.

“We desired that Chhattisgarh’s poverty-stricken avail maximum benefit from PMAY but the state government acts as a roadblock and has placed Chhattisgarh on the back foot. The politics of scams filled Congress leaders’ coffers. They loot, do they not? Nobody can contemplate the mentality of those who perpetrate corruption even vis-à-vis cow dung! A liquor scam also took place. This extremely mineral-rich state is being misused as a Congress ATM,” he observed.

At an earlier event, the Prime Minister dedicated to the nation crucial railway projects worth approximately Rs 6,350 crores.

He also laid the foundation stone of 50-bedded critical-care blocks in nine districts besides distributing a lakh sickle cell counselling cards.

The projects include the East Rail Project Phase-I; the third line between Champa and Jamga; the third line between Pendra Road and Anuppur besides a 65-km-long electrified Merry-Go-Round system (Rs 2,070 cr) connecting the Talaipalli Coal Mine to the NTPC’s 1,600-MW Lara Super Thermal Power Station.

The East Rail Project Phase-I is being developed under the PM GatiShakti – National Master Plan and consists of a 124.8-km line from Kharsia to Dharamjaygarh including a spur line to Gare-Pelma and three feeder lines connecting Chhal, Baroud, Durgapur and other collieries.

The rail line – laid at a cost of about Rs 3,055 crores – is equipped with electrified broad-gauge level crossings and a free part double line. The third line between Pendra Road and Anuppur is 50 km long and costs about Rs 516 crores. The 98-km-long Champa-Jamga line is worth approximately Rs 796 crores.

The Critical Care Blocks will be constructed in Durg, Kondagaon, Rajnandgaon, Gariaband, Jashpur, Surajpur, Surguja, Bastar and Raigarh districts by incurring a total expenditure exceeding Rs 210 crores.