‘Chinese Communists laugh at Indian comrades for their style of governance’
Tripura: All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday appealed to the people to vote out the Left Front government in Tripura in the coming assembly elections in 2013.
Addressing a public rally here, Mr Gandhi lashed out at the Manik Sarkar-led government alleging that the Centre had introduced several flagship programmes, including MGNREGA and Forest Right Act to help out the poor people of the country, but these were not properly utilised for the development of actual beneficiaries.
Referring to his father Rajiv Gandhi’s comment, he reiterated, “My father made an observation two decades ago that only 15 paisa of a rupee sanctioned by the Centre is reaching the people and I still believe that the situation remains unchanged, which is the sole reason of poverty in a small state like Tripura.”
He pointed out that misappropriation of public fund and corruption at political level were the reasons of underdevelopment of the state, as the money allocated for poor people in various programmes had been going in to the pockets of the CPI(M) cadres.
“Tripura is the last bastion of communist and the time has come to vote them out for overall development of the state,” he said
The development index indicated poor performance of the state in vital sectors-health and education, Mr Gandhi attributed.
Gandhi, however, mentioned that his family had a fascination for the Northeast region since Indira Gandhi’s regime and the Gandhi family still maintains the relationship with the people of the region.
Speaking on the poverty alleviation programme of second UPA government, Mr Gandhi said after assuring at least 100 days work under MGNREGA, the Central government was all set to pass the National Food Security bill and another bill for socio economic development of scheduled tribes in next session of Parliament to ensure overall progress of cross sections of people.
Besides, appealing to the voters, Mr Gandhi advised the Congress leaders and workers to fight unitedly against misrule of the Left Front government so that a Congress-led government comes to power in the next assembly election.
He added despite getting sufficient financial support from the Centre, the state government did not implement the Sixth Pay commission and government employees were deprived of their legitimate benefits.
The Amethi MP arrived here by a chartered aircraft from Nagaland this morning and left for Udaipur (South Tripura) where he would address the second rally before departing for New Delhi in the afternoon.
Gandhi also took a dig at Indian Communists saying they were still practising the concept of 50s while their Chinese counterparts had moved ahead.
”My Communist friends in China are laughing at their Indian counterparts for their (style of) governance in political system,” the Gandhi scion told a rally here.
”Though the Chinese Communists had changed over a period of time, considering the shifting face of the world, unfortunately Indian Communists are still practising the concept and style of the 50s,” he observed. This, he said, had become the main cause of suffering of the Left ruled states in the country.
In a scathing comment Mr Gandhi said the Leftists in India spoke in favour of the poor and downtrodden but in practice they had been indulging in corruption and accumulating public fund in party account.
He also pointed out that the people of West Bengal and Kerala had voted out the Left for their ‘misrule’ and now development in both states had got a new dimension, which ultimately helps the states to develop at par with other states.
The UPA government at the Centre was working for the poor and as a result, Rs 60,000 crore agricultural loan had been waived and new programme introduced for the economically weaker sections besides, MGNREGA and Forest Right Act. Flaying the Manik Saekar led LF government in Tripura, the Congress MP alleged that more than 50,000 posts in various departments were lying vacant despite sufficient financial support from the Centre. Before leaving for Delhi he held meeting with senior party leaders at the Agartala airport. (UNI)