Addressing two back-to-back poll rallies in Maharashtra, where the final 13 seats will go to the polls on May 20, the PM also hit out at the Shiv Sena (UBT), repeatedly calling it the “duplicate” Shiv Sena, and said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party has surrendered to the Congress and was silent on criticism of rituals at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He accused the Congress of wanting to allocate 15% of the central government budget to minorities and vowed not to allow splitting of budget or reservation on the basis of religion.

“Since Nehru’s time, the Congress has given the drug of garibi hatao [remove poverty] during every election. Congress only knows Hindu and Muslim politics and development is only for those who vote for them,” he said in Kalyan, where chief minister Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant is the BJP’s candidate.

“When I expose them, their ecosystem screams Modi is indulging in communal politics. History is witness to their acts. They have to open their albums to check who their grandparents are to find out who they themselves are.”

Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant said, “His hatred for minorities and Muslims has been evident from day one of the campaign.”

Maharashtra is a key state for both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), especially after two regional powerhouses – the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party – suffered vertical splits. The state sends the second-highest number of members to the Lok Sabha at 48. In 2019, the NDA won 41 of these.

In Kalyan, Modi referred to a 2006 remark of then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hit out at the Congress.

“The Congress openly said the minorities have the first right over the country’s resources. (Then PM) Dr Manmohan Singh said this, and I was present at the meeting, and I opposed it. The Congress wanted 15% budget allocation to the minorities, and divide the budget into Hindu budget and Muslim budget,” Modi alleged.

Read more: PM Modi hurls ‘nakli’ jibe at Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction: ‘Balasaheb said…’

“Should the country be run like this? The Congress divided the country in the name of religion earlier, and now wants to do the same thing. If the INDI alliance comes to power, they will divide the country on religious lines….we have to keep the country together….is it good to divide Indians? he asked.

Accusing the INDIA bloc and “Congress’s shehzade” (prince, a reference to Rahul Gandhi) of appeasement, the PM said Congress-ruled Karnataka was a “laboratory” of giving OBC quota to Muslims.

“They plan to do this in the entire country. Congress leaders speak of vote jihad. I am being blamed for (doing) Hindu-Muslim (politics), but I am only exposing the Congress and INDI alliance’s plans to divide people on the basis of religion and their appeasement politics. More than my image, the unity of the country is important,” the PM added.

To be sure, the Congress has repeatedly said that the BJP is misrepresenting Singh’s remark, and that the PM had only spoken of the need to empower the marginalised, including scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Muslims.

Modi’s comments came a day after he referred to the Hindu-Muslim divide in a News18 interview.

“The day I start talking about Hindu-Muslim (in politics) will be the day I lose my ability to lead a public life,” Modi said, speaking in Hindi. “I will not do Hindu-Muslim. That is my resolve.” Modi also clarified his controversial remark on “infiltrators” and “those with more children” referred to every poor family. The remarks had sparked a political firestorm with the Opposition blaming the PM of stoking communal politics.

In Kalyan, Modi dared Uddhav Thackeray to make Rahul Gandhi speak “five lines” in favour of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

“(1993 Mumbai blasts convict) Yakub Memon’s grave is decorated, and invitation for the Ram temple is rejected,” the PM said in a swipe at the Congress over its decision to skip the idol consecration event in Ayodhya.

After his government conducted a surgical strike and an air strike on terrorist bases, Pakistan stopped giving the threat of using nuclear weapons, but Congress leaders are now saying the neighbouring country should be respected because they have the atom bomb, Modi said, referring to an earlier remark of former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.

“During previous governments, there were announcements about being careful around abandoned objects. Bombs exploded, terrorists made threats, firing on the border and Naxal attacks were daily occurrences.Have you heard of it since you gave Modi the power?”

In the evening, he held a 2.2-km-long roadshow in Ghatkopar. It started at Ashok Silk Mills, near R City Malls on LBS Road in Ghatkopar West at around 7.15pm and ended at Parshwanath Chowk in Ghatkopar East around 8pm.

“I have been waiting for three hours to get a glimpse of Modiji. I am happy to have seen him during the show,” said 62-year old Devaji Gada.

Modi was accompanied by chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mumbai North East BJP candidate Mihir Kotecha, and Mumbai North Central constituency BJP candidate Ujjwal Nikam. Music bands representing various communities also played in unison.

“Took part in a massive roadshow in Mumbai. Grateful to everyone who came to bless us, especially women and children. Our party’s connection with Mumbai is deep. It was in this city that our party was founded in 1980. This makes our commitment to serve it even stronger,” Modi posted on X.

The Mumbai Metropolitan region has 10 seats, of which the BJP holds four.

At the first rally of the day at Pimpalgaon Baswant in Nashik district, the PM said splitting the budget on religious lines was a dangerous idea.

“We give the benefit of welfare schemes to everyone. But the Congress wants division and distribution of budgets based on religion. They divided the country on the basis of religion and are doing it even today,” said Modi.

The PM pointed out that Dr BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, was firmly against religion-based reservation in jobs and education.

“When I was the chief minister (of Gujarat), the Congress (then heading the UPA government) had brought up this proposal (to earmark 15% of the budget for minorities). The BJP strongly opposed this move and hence it could not be implemented. But the Congress wants to bring this dangerous proposal again (if voted to power),” Modi warned the gathering.

Without naming NCP patriarch president Sharad Pawar, Modi said, “An INDI alliance leader from Maharashtra knows the Congress is losing badly (in elections). So, he has suggested that small parties merge with the Congress so that it can get the status of the principal opposition party.” “Merger of small parties with the Congress is sure to happen. When the duplicate Shiv Sena merges, I will remember Balasaheb Thackeray’s words that if the Shiv Sena becomes like the Congress, he will shut down his party. Now, the duplicate Shiv Sena will cease to exist. The duplicate Shiv Sena has crushed all dreams of Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said.

Modi addressed a rally for BJP’s Dindori candidate Bharati Pawar, and Shiv Sena candidate Hemant Godse in Nashik.

He also said that Modi would not allow budgets or reservations based on faith. “ I would not let it happen against the policies of DR BR Ambedkar on reservation. This is the election to pick not only an MP but a prime minister who has the might to work for the powerful nation,” he said.

Sensing the unrest among the onion growers in Nashik and neighboring areas, Modi underlined that his government made arrangements for the buffer stock. “We procured 1 lakh metric tonne of onion and now have decided to create a buffer of 5 lakh metric tonnes more. Our policies have resulted in the rise of the onion export by 35% during our regime and export figures of onion have crossed 22,000 metric tonnes,” he said.

The Maharashtra Congress’s Sawant, said, “Whatever budgetary allocations were done by Manmohan Singh government for the minority communities were as part of the implementation of the report by the Sachhar committee appointed for the upliftment of the Muslims decades ago.”