Sounding the poll bugle, the Congress vice president addressed a rally in Assam.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for launching personal attacks on him but not answering questions posed by him about the burning issues of the day.
The Congress vice president also said that Modi made him listen to the quotes of his father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi instead of giving a response to his four questions in his speech in Lok Sabha on Thursday.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday made a one-hour-and-15-minute-long speech in Parliament and he made personal attacks on me. He made me listen to Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi’s quotes. But did not answer a single question I had asked him. I respect him. He is the country’s prime minister. I asked him four questions but he did not answer,” he said addressing a rally in BarakValley in Silchar.
“Launch personal attacks at me as much you want and enjoy it but do answer my four questions. In my speech I had said nothing personal against Modi,” Rahul said, referring to his queries.
Rahul referred to the four questions he had raised in his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
“I had asked for Modi’s response to his finance minister Arun Jaitley’s ‘fair and lovely’ scheme to make black money white and then what he did to put the Rs 15 lakh black money he promised to put in each Indian's bank account,” Rahul said.
“The third question I asked him was did you consult Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and respect the opinion of the people of the state before announcing the Naga Accord,” he said.
“The fourth question I put to Modi was how many have been given employment so far under his Make in India scheme,” the Congress leader said.
In a jibe aimed at Rahul, Modi had on Thursday said some people grow in age but not in understanding and claimed that the opposition suffers from ‘inferiority complex’.
“Some people age but their understanding does not grow. Hence they take time to understand,” he had said, without naming anyone.
Modi in his speech had also invoked the statements made by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and first President Rajendra Prasad by reading out their statements against stalling of legislative business.
With Assam due to go to polls in two phases on April 4 and April 11, Gandhi also said people of the state will send the Bharatiya Janata Party packing from the state like their Bihar counterparts due to his ‘non-stop false promises’.
With the BJP putting together a coalition of several regional parties in its attempt to consolidate Hindu votes, Rahul claimed that the opposition coalition will destroy the brotherhood and progress which the 15-year-old rule of the Congress has ushered in Assam.
“There was peace in Haryana, feelings of brotherhood and the state on the road to development. The BJP came to power and set it on fire. Wherever they go they set places on fire and caused fights in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh,” Rahul said.
“They make one Indian fight wih the other. This is their ideology,” the Congress leader claimed.
“Modi won the elections and said change with acche din will come. If the Congress wins in Assam and the BJP in Delhi goes, only then acche din will come. Don’t worry we are working towards it,” he said.
Rahul alleged that the Modi government had done nothing for Assam except offering promises and asserted that Congress had kept its promises.
He referred to the Railway Budget and said it had nothing for the state.
“Nothing was given. They (the BJP) make lot of promises like they will give Rs 15 lakh, employment to youth and minimum support price plus 50 per cent to farmers... When their government came, all they did was to try to snatch farmers’ land and made three attempts but we stopped them,” he said, in a reference to the land ordinance brought by the government.
He used the Bihar results where the BJP was defeated to hit out at Modi, adding that the saffron party will suffer a similar defeat in Assam.
“He went to Bihar 30 times and made promises. People of Bihar told him that first you fulfil the promises you had made earlier and sent him to Delhi. You ask him about employment and why he brought this fair and lovely scheme... He will go to Delhi again and Congress will come back to power,” Rahul said.
Stating that the Prime Minister spoke about development of Assam in his speech, Rahul claimed, ‘but he took away its Special Category Status and cut the 90 (central grants):10 (state’s contribution) funding pattern’.
“Before the Bihar elections he gave speeches there and now he will come here also for Assam elections and make promises. You ask him my four questions. The Congress will win here again (for the fourth straight time) because whatever we say we do and fight for the poor and downtrodden,” he said.
Asserting that the Congress believes in taking care of each state and citizen’s welfare and the people to run the country, Rahul said, “On the other hand the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP people want to impose one ideology on everyone and run the country from Nagpur (RSS headquarters) and the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Image: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, along with Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and other leaders, during an election campaign rally in Silchar, Assam on Friday. Photograph: PTI Photo
