Amta (West Bengal), Apr 18 (IANS): Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said India would be freed from poverty, the day it got rid of the Congress.

Referring to late Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi as well as the Congress President Rahul Gandhi, he said while all of them talked about eradicating poverty and uplifting the poor, the only Prime Minister who had been successful in that was Narendra Modi.

"They all talked about saving the poor and eradicating poverty, but in reality poverty kept increasing. Now Rahul Gadhi is also making such promises. The only Prime Minister who can eradicate poverty is Narendra Modi," Singh said at a public rally in Uluberia of the Howrah district.

"I can assure you India will become free of poverty the day it becomes Congress-free. That's why I appeal to all of you to vote for the BJP in big numbers without any fear," he said.

Slamming the Mamata Banerjee government over political violence, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said democracy had ceased to exist in Bengal under the current regime.

"Democracy ceased to exist in Bengal. There used to be massive political violence during the Left rule and it's the same under the Trinamool Congress government. The same trend of violence is going on in West Bengal."

Hailing the Election Commission, he said the EC has promised to deploy sufficiant number of central security force personnel to hold free and fair polls in Bengal. "I want to congratulate the EC because it has said it would deploy as many security personnel as needed in every polling phase here to ensure free and fair elections."

The Minister said the mood in the two Lok Sabha constituencies, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar that went to the polls in the first phase on April 11, showed that the BJP would emerge victorious in both the seats.

He said the Trinamool Congress leaders had become "so desperate" fearing their impending defeat in the 2019 polls that some of their women leaders were urging people to chase away the central force personnel.

"One of their women leaders is urging people to stop the central forces from working. This shows they are sure about their defeat. Will the democracy be run like this in Bengal? We firmly believe there is no place for violence in democracy."