Black magician ruling India, says Modi

Ranchi, April 10 (IANS) India has been ruled by a "black magician" for the past 10 years, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said Thursday.

Quoting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who said the Bharatiya Janata Party has brought in a magician who claims to change everything overnight, Modi said: "The central government has been run by a black magician for the last 10 years."

"Employment opportunities vanished, farmers' plight increased and armymen beheaded," he said at a rally in the steel city of Jamshedpur Thursday.

"Remove the black magician for the sake of the country and to change the fate of the country. People have made up their minds and it is difficult for the Congress to save itself," Modi said, without naming anyone.

The Gujarat chief minister also tried to woo the voters by speaking about his humble beginnings.

"I was born in a poor family and I understand the plight of the poor. Those born with a golden spoon in their mouth cannot understand the plight of the poor," he said.

He appealed to people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's wish to dismantle the Congress party after India got freedom.

"Gandhiji knew that the Congress leaders would be unable to rule the country and this was the reason why he wanted to wind up the Congress. Time has come to fulfil Gandhiji's dream," he said.

Modi blamed the union government for the misery of the steel city.

"If the centre followed the right policy, then Jamshedpur's automobile industry could have become the focus of the international market."