India, Aug. 18 -- New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at the inauguration of key roadworks on Sunday, took aim at the opposition parties' claims of working for social justice by citing a provision in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, which allowed jailing sanitation workers for a month if they failed to report to work without prior intimation.

"Today I am going to tell you that truth. In Delhi, there was a dangerous law in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. There was a clause that if a safai mitra (sanitation worker) skipped work without informing beforehand, he or she could be jailed for a month. Think about it, what did they think of safai karmacharis? You will put them in jail for a small mistake? They now tal...