Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress government in Rajasthan of “appeasement” and claimed the morale of terrorists and rioters soars whenever the party is in power.

Modi, who was addressing a rally in Barmer district of the poll-bound state, also alleged rampant corruption and deterioration of law and order in the state, and urged voters to punish the Congress in next week’s assembly elections.

The Congress, however, dismissed the Prime Minister’s “false narrative” and accused the Centre of doing little to keep a check on inflation.

Polling for the 200-member assembly will be held in a single phase on November 25. The results will be declared on December 3, along with those of four other states where polling is also taking place this month.

Addressing the crowd, Modi said: “Rajasthan has been a peaceful state but now there are slogans in support of terrorism. Wherever the Congress comes to power, the terrorists and criminals feel emboldened because of the party’s policy of appeasement. The Congress has endangered Rajasthan’s culture… only BJP can save Rajasthan’s culture and tradition.”

The Prime Minister also said the country witnessed regular terror attacks under the Congress’s rule at the Centre but the party did not act tough and meekly sought help from the international community. “It was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government which carried out surgical strikes in the terrorists’ own backyards,” he said, referring to the surgical and air strikes on terrorists after the Uri and Pulwama terror attacks.

Continuing his attack on the Ashok Gehlot-led government, Modi said that in the last five years, people in the state have not been able to celebrate any festival peacefully.

“In the last five years, no festival could be celebrated peacefully. Sometimes there were riots, sometimes stone pelting and sometimes curfew. This is the picture of five years of Congress. Curfew hurts everyone. Labourers can’t earn their daily wage, traders are compelled to shut shop. So it is imperative to remove this Congress government from Rajasthan,” he said.

The Prime Minister also targeted the state government over a “red diary”, which a sacked minister claims contains details of corruption and unscrupulous transactions in the Rajasthan Cricket Association, headed by Gehlot’s son Vaibhav.

In August, sacked minister Rajendra Gudha made public three pages of the “red diary” to prove the corruption claims, even as Gehlot dismissed the allegations, saying no such “red diary” exists.

“Till now there were discussions about the ‘lal diary’, now the ‘lal diary’ has started opening up. They (Congress leaders) used to say that it was fake, now the ‘lal diary’ is speaking loudly. After reading the diary, should even one Congress candidate win the election,” he said.

“Such a government which has indulged in loot should be thrown out. They should be punished. You (voters) have got the first chance to punish them. Press the lotus symbol like you are awarding a death sentence to the Congress,” he added.

He also alleged that Congress leaders were linked to instances of leak of question papers of various government job exams in the state.

“The chief minister is cursing me for the crackdown on corruption and paper leaks. They can curse me all they want but the investigations won’t stop. The action against those involved in corruption won’t stop. They will have to return what they have looted. The government will have to go,” he said.

The Congress hit back at Modi for his remarks. “BJP didi nothing to ease inflation. But the Congress government held rahat (relief) camps for its people in the state,” party spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi said.

He also hit out at the Prime Minister for his “false narrative”. “No one is talking about the ‘lal diary’ because people know it is fake. People are talking about the pink diary in which the Congress has given 10 guarantees for the welfare of the people,” he said.

Rajasthan, is witnessing an intense battle between the BJP and the Congress. The desert state usually votes out the incumbent every five years. But this time, Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot is hoping to put up a tough battle, using a bouquet of welfare and cash transfer schemes, and exploiting factionalism in the BJP. But the state’s opposition party is confident that political tradition will continue, and Modi’s popularity will carry the day.