Wardha (Maha): Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of following divisive politics and making false promises, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the people “tried” the BJP leader but his government “got punctured” and it was time to trust the Congress to take India forward.
The Congress president invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of adherence to truth and communal harmony to hit out at the Modi government and alleged the prime minister was fighting against the same ideals for which the Father of the Nation sacrificed all his life and took three bullets.
Addressing a rally here to kick off the Congress’s programmes in the 150th birth anniversary year of the father of the nation, Rahul Gandhi also targeted the Modi government over the Rafale fighter jet deal and on issues related to defaulter businessmen Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya.
“The thieves of India, with the help of Narendra Modi, turned lakhs, crores of black money into white. Modiji took money out of your pockets and put it in the pockets of (fugitive businessmen) Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya,” he said.
“You tried Modiji (gave a chance to him). The vehicle (the Modi government) failed, got punctured, its engine exploded, it did not work.
He broke your trust…now you trust the Congress, the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi to take India forward,” Rahul Gandhi said at Wardha in Maharashtra, where Mahatma Gandhi’s Sevagram Ashram is located. The Congress chief also led a march, covering a part of the four-kilometre distance in his vehicle and the rest on foot, to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary and to give a message against what the party called the “atmosphere of fear” in the country.
Senior party leaders K C Venugopal, R P N Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, state unit president Ashok Chavan, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and others joined Rahul Gandhi, as he began the march after garlanding a statue of the father of the nation near the district collector’s office. Rahul Gandhi was greeted by thousands of people who waved at him and jostled with each other to catch a glimpse of the Congress leader.
People as well as Congress workers lined up both sides of the road, giving some tough moments to Gandhi’s security personnel. Wardha district has traditionally been a bastion of the Congress.
The party leadership was in Sevagram village, located around 10 km from Wardha district headquarters, to attend the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) Tuesday.
The Congress is seeking return to power at the Centre and also in Maharashtra following its drubbing at the hands of the BJP in last polls.
On soaring fuel prices, the Congress chief accused Modi of taking money from the pockets of the common people and putting it in the pockets of “15-20 richest” individuals. “The chowkidar (watchman) is doing it and doing it for them (the rich). He (Modi) is not a chowkidar, but bhagidar (partner in crime),” he alleged.
Reacting to his charges, the BJP said the Congress leader was a “tape recorder of lies” and his party’s fortunes will go down as swiftly as he resorts to “falsehoods” to target the Modi government. (PTI)
