Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Meerut on Saturday, ahead of upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader said the party was ready to “do everything” for the state since it was Uttar Pradesh that had voted for him and “made me PM”. Modi also accused the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party of corruption and hindering development, and said that violence and goons ruled the state. He said no legal action has been taken against those who commit crimes in UP.

The prime minister said that while the Centre wants to help the people of UP, no work can happen if the state government does not cooperate. “Even if I try and help UP from Delhi, if the state government has no intention, the money will go somewhere else. Centre is ready to do everything for UP because UP made me PM. If UP’s destiny is to be changed, government should be changed,” he said. He claimed that Rs 4,000 crore had been given to the state government for health aid but they did not spend even Rs 250 crore of the amount.

“This election is the BJP’s fight against SCAM – Samajwadi [Party], Congress, Akhilesh [Yadav] and Mayawati,” Modi said, calling it a fight against poverty too. “The first war of Independence began here in Meerut in 1857. Then the fight was against the British and now the war is to eradicate poverty.”

BJP will clear dues of all sugarcane farmers if voted to power, Modi promised. “Why is UP government not taking action when six sugar mills are not paying sugarcane farmers?” ANI reported him as saying. He also brought up the surgical strikes by the Indian Army and said some people had politicised it, asking why no soldiers had died.

The state will have elections in seven phases starting on February 11. Votes will be counted on March 11.