Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti takes a jibe at Manmohan Singh, says he broke his silence too late

Lakhimpur(UP): Taking a dig at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for criticising the NDA government, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti today said had he broke his silence two years ago the nation would have avoided so many scams and scandals.

Comparing Singh with Gandhari, a character in Hindu epic the Mahabharat, who had voluntarily blindfolded herself, she alleged as the country went on facing corruption and scams, the former prime minister chose to turn a blind eye.

The Union minister also launched a sharp attack on the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi saying "he never spoke about the farmers, the fishermen and the poor, when Congress remained in power for 65 years. Now, when the people of the nation have dethroned Congress, he is speaking about these people." Questioning his seriousness toward these people, Sadhvi said, "Rahul Gandhi would never realise the woes of the poor as he has never lived such life."

"It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has lived in poverty and even sold tea on platforms, who can not only realise but also address the problems of the poor," she said while addressing a party workers meet here. Sadhvi patted their back for their contribution in party's membership campaign and making BJP the largest party in the world.

She called upon party workers and leaders to go out and establish door-to-door contact with the people and apprise them of the BJP government's public welfare schemes and policies. Lauding the BJP government on its first anniversary, Jyoti said that during one year tenure of BJP in power, terrorist activities were in control and no major terrorist incident was reported.

"No case of corruption came to notice. Instead steps like formation of SIT, laws to curb corruption and black money were initiated," she added. "The Modi government gave solace to the poor and weaker sections of the country by launching schemes like PM Irrigation scheme, PM Jivan Jyoti and Bima Suraksha Schemes, Sukanya schemes etc," Jyoti said She also lauded the foreign policy of the Modi government saying the prime minister held the nation's head high on the global arena