Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asserted that a mood of hope pervaded the country replacing hopelessness that prevailed under the UPA rule as he pitched his government as one dedicated to the poor and farmers which prevented the "loot" of public money.

Addressing the first of his four public rallies here in Uttar Pradesh, which will have assembly polls next year, to mark the second anniversary of his government, Modi reached out to the electorate, calling himself a "UP wala" who cared for the farmers.

Asserting that India was growing at the fastest rate, Modi said only two years ago many thought the country had "sunk".

"They would say India has sunk and things cannot change. There was a mood of hopelessness while there is hope and enthusiasm today. Earlier there was a mood of unease, now it is about moving forward," he said.

He also attacked the previous Congress-led government over corruption, while flagging his government's "honest" credentials.
"Look at the newspapers and TV channels two years ago. Corruption in high places was the norm. I am now in the government and I am shocked how past governments have looted the country.

"Are governments installed to loot? I am here to end that culture. I want to ask you have you heard of any news about our government looting even a rupee? Have even our critics managed to accuse us of corruption? Two years ago no one had the courage to come to the people and ask them for an opinion, he said.

The Prime Minister repeatedly spoke of his "pro-poor" and "pro-farmer" schemes throughout his half-an-hour speech and took swipes at the previous Congress-led government by raising the issue of corruption and speaking of BJP s taint free governance.

He said his government had taken a series of measures to help clear the dues of sugarcane farmers, a politically important constituency in the region, while other governments were not concerned about them.

Recalling that in his address after he was elected the leader of the BJP-led NDA following the Lok Sabha win he had promised his government would be dedicated to the poor, Modi said every decison he had taken ever since was in that direction.

"If you look at my work of two years, you will see one decision after the other was taken to empower the poor to fight poverty, to strengthen the poor against poverty so that they could defeat it. No poor man wants to bequeath poverty to his children. I have always tried to work for the common man," he said.

n the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu and Kashmir, senior PDP leader Muzzafar Hussain Baig on Friday urged him to send a clear message that "intolerance and communalism" will not be tolerated any more as the situation in the country was "worse than ever before".

Baig, a Lok Sabha MP, also told the Prime Minister not to lose out on the opportunity to send a clear message to the violators during his visit to J and K tomorrow. "I beseech you both to rise to the occasion and assure the people of the state and minorities of the country in general that communalism, intolerance and bigotry shall not be tolerated - never any more," Baig said in an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister and state Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed "Modi Sahib, if you cannot do it, then who can? Who shall?", he asked.
Baig said the sense of insecurity that prevails today in the only Muslim majority state of J and K has never been witnessed before. "Today, the general perception of the people of the state is that the only thing this alliance has so far achieved is further alienation, mistrust and cynicism," Baig said. He said the PDP was being accused of being "agents" who had some "hidden and dangerous agenda".

"The unfortunate environment of intolerance, leading to even ruthless killing of some members of minority community in Uttar Pradesh and some innocent Kashmiris in Jammu, has made Muslims, living in all regions of the state, extremely insecure," he said. The comments came on eve of visit of the Prime Minister to the state where he will be holding a public rally in the Valley and inaugurating the second phase of Baghlihar power project in Jammu.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday slammed Congress for protesting against 'rising intolerance', saying that it was on this very day in 1984 that the anti-Sikh riots began in Delhi.

"Do you remember November 2, 1984? What happened in Delhi? Sikhs were being killed... and ironically on November 2, the Congress talks of tolerance. Drown in shame!", he said at a rally in Purnea in Bihar.

"Congress has no right to talk about tolerance after 1984 anti-Sikh riots; they are enacting a drama", he added.

"Justice was never delivered to 1984 riot victims," said the PM.

The PM's remarks come ahead of a meeting between Congress chief Sonia Gandhi with President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday, where she is likely to raise concerns over 'rising intolerance' in the country. Writers, historians, scientists and businessmen have all launched scathing attacks on the Modi government in the past few weeks.

The PM is scheduled to address three more rallies in what is the campaigning for the last phase of Bihar elections.

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu has alleged there was a "systematic, orchestrated and vicious" campaign by opponents to target the BJP-led NDA even as he stressed that while fringe elements should be segregated, not everybody should be painted with the same brush.

"This is a systematic, orchestrated, vicious campaign across the country by our opponents for whatever reason. Some people are misled and some people are misleading them.

"This is not good for the country," the urban development minister said at a cultural event here in an apparent reference to the protest by authors, filmmakers and intellectuals over what they have charged is "growing intolerance" in the country.

Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United) lashed out at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned his stand on the growing intolerance in the country.