Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he never delivers on his promises, The Indian Express reported. Gandhi was addressing the “Jan Aakrosh” (public anger) rally at New Delhi’s Ramlila Ground.
The Congress leader claimed that the prime minister’s words did not carry weight anymore. “Wherever I go, I ask if you are happy, and the response I get is we are angry at the government,” Gandhi said.
He said that while Modi alleges that the Congress has not done anything in 70 years, the prime minister has failed to curb unemployment, provide safety to women, protect the informal sector and stand up to China in the “60 months” he has been in power.
He took a dig at Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying that the prime minister talks about corruption in Karnataka, but his party’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa accompanies him at election rallies. Yeddyurappa’s previous tenure at the helm of the state government was marred by corruption charges. The state will go to the polls on May 12.
Gandhi also accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of spreading lies about the party. “But the truth is now making its way out and people can see through their lies.”
Gandhi claimed that he had urged Modi to waive farmers’ loans, but did not receive a response. “The farmers of this country cannot live without the Congress party,” he said. “If Congress had not taken a stand, Narendra Modi would have snatched all their lands.”
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also addressed the rally and said that democracy was in danger and the Modi government was consistently undermining the constitutional institutions of the country, PTI reported. He said pessimism among voters is rising, the law and order situation is bad, and atrocities against the minorities, Dalits and women are rising, but the government does not seem to be worried.
He said the time had come that voters support Rahul Gandhi “in making this country a better place”.
In the same rally, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi alleged that corruption had increased under the Modi government’s watch. “At present, injustice and untruth rule and whoever raises their voice has to bear the Modi government’s brunt,” Sonia Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi ‘daydreaming’, says BJP
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reacted after Gandhi’s rally on Sunday, saying the language the Congress president used when speaking about Modi was “deplorable”, PTI reported. “He has shown scant respect for Narendra Modi, who is acknowledged as a global leader and whose four-year rule has been marked by a rapid economic progress, without any corruption scandal, unlike when the Congress ruled the country,” Prasad said.
He added that the rally was organised “in the quest of power”, and that he was simply trying to rejuvenate his “demoralised” party workers. Prasad said that Gandhi’s claim that the Congress would win all state elections and the General Elections in 2019 was mere “daydreaming”.
Earlier in the day, BJP National President Amit Shah lashed out at Rahul Gandhi, saying that a dynasty and their courtiers, who had been voted out in state after state, were now pretending to represent the will of the people. He claimed that people would see “abject hatred of India” on display at the Congress’ rally.
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