Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday claimed there was no alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that there would be “anarchy” in his absence, PTI reported. He was commenting on the Opposition rally in Kolkata last week, where several leaders joined hands against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Looking at yesterday’s rally in Kolkata, where all the Opposition parties came together, it was evident that all these parties want to drive out Modi, but who is the alternative?” Javadekar asked. “They cannot present an alternative, so the condition in the country is like if there is no Modi, there will be anarchy.”

The BJP had dismissed the United India rally as an “exercise by an anti-Modi front”.

The Union minister of human resource development said the Lok Sabha polls would be fought on matters that show if the people wanted a “mazboot” [strong] or a “majboor” [weak] government. He claimed the Kolkata rally indicated a nervous Opposition as it had not formed a committee to either draft a manifesto or a common minimum programme, but had set up a four-member panel to look into the BJP’s alleged manipulation of electoral voting machines.

“It shows they are already looking for an excuse for their possible defeat and it shows their nervousness,” he said.

The minister alleged that the Congress and other opposition parties wanted a weak government in order to indulge in corruption. “Whereas people want a ‘mazboot’ [strong] government like the Modi government, which is eliminating corruption in the system and not sparing those involved in corruption,” he said.

Javadekar also expressed confidence that the BJP would win more seats in the upcoming polls as compared to 2014, when it had won 282 of the 543 seats, and that its vote share would also increase. “When I say the BJP will surpass the 282 number in the upcoming Lok Sabha, the reason for that is the party’s tally in West Bengal, Odisha and the North Eastern states will go up,” he said.