Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday claimed the Congress will get fewer than 50 seats in the Lok Sabha elections and said citizens would have to pay high taxes and face inflation if it is voted to power. In the last General Elections, the Congress had been reduced to 44 seats, its lowest-ever figure.

Modi said every survey was talking about whether the Bharatiya Janata Party will remain on 282 seats or cross it, but on the Congress, they were discussing whether the party can reach the figure of 50 or get limited at 40.

“Don’t waste your vote,” PTI quoted Modi as saying. “Better to vote for a party that is coming to power and you can strengthen it with your vote. The only question now is if the BJP will better its own 2014 tally.”

Modi was speaking at an election rally at MMRDA grounds in Bandra-Kurla Complex. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Republican Party of India chief and Union minister Ramdas Athawale were also present at the rally, according to Hindustan Times.

The prime minister said he would ensure citizens in the country feel safe and that they do not feel a sense of helplessness. “Mumbai never stops, be it 26/11 attacks or any terrorist attacks but they had to live with a feeling of helplessness,” he said. “But now they have to come to know that Modi will reply to them [terrorists] in their language. We will enter into their houses and kill them,” he said in an indirect reference to the Balakot air strike.

Modi also took a jibe at the Congress government’s handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, saying the government “only changed home ministers when they needed to change policies”, reported The Hindu.

He said it was only the BJP that respected martyrs. “Criticising policemen had become fashionable, without realising that they work 24x7 for us, whether it is a festival or not,” he said. His comments come against the backdrop of BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur’s remarks about police officer Hemant Karkare who was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

Modi urged the middle class to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party, while criticising the Congress. “Whenever Congress has come to power, they made the middle-class to suffer inflation, corruption and taxes,” he said, according to Hindustan Times. “In contrast, our [BJP] policy is totally different. There was no corruption in the last five years. After I was elected in 2014, I have brought corrupt leaders to the doors of jail. Elect me in 2019, will kick them inside jails.”