Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday unveiled Rajasthan’s first-ever oil refinery worth Rs 43,129 crore Pachpadra village in Barmer district.

In his address, the prime minister took a jab at the Congress, saying that the party’s policies resulted in droughts wherever it has been in power. “The Congress and drought are twin brothers, wherever the Congress goes, drought follows.” Modi criticised the Congress for reportedly claiming credit for the project, saying that the Opposition party hoodwinks people by just laying foundation stones for projects.

Last week, the Congress had criticised the government of Vasundhara Raje for re-laying the foundation stone for this oil refinery project though former Congress President Sonia Gandhi had reportedly done the same on September 22, 2013, The Indian Express reported.

The prime minister praised Raje for tackling the drought crisis in the state. “It is in contrast to the Opposition in the state, whose poor drought management in Rajasthan is widely known,” he said.

Modi added that while the Congress government only spoke of “garibi hatao [remove poverty]”, the Bharatiya Janata Party implemented pro-poor policies such as providing free cooking gas to poor women and free power connection to four crore households. “For them, ‘garibi hatao’ was an attractive slogan. They nationalised the banks but the doors of the banks never opened for the poor.”

One Rank, One Pension

The prime minister raised the matter of One Rank, One Pension scheme that a number of veterans in the Army have been demanding for years. They want the same pension for all retired soldiers, regardless of their rank, length of service and the date of retirement.

The Congress-led UPA government had allotted Rs 500 crore for the scheme despite knowing that it was not an accurate figure, he alleged. “Before 2014 elections a symbolic amount was allocated even when it was known that this sum is just too less,” Modi said. “It was our commitment to make OROP a reality and we worked towards making that possible.”

On October 19, 2017, Modi had said that the government was working on implementing the scheme. The defence ministry had reinstated the One Rank, One Pension scheme in September 2015, and formally notified it for more than 24 lakh former servicemen and six lakh war widows on November 8, 2015. But Army veterans had said the government’s version had “seven serious shortcomings”, which would nullify the scheme’s definition.