PM, Shah lied to nation, tried replicating ‘Assam, J&K’ model, alleges Rahul

RANIPET (Tamil Nadu), April 18: Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah “lied” to the nation on the Women’s Reservation Bill, which they used as a camouflage to conceal delimitation to redraw the electoral map of the country and replicate “Assam and Jammu and Kashmir model”.
Launching his campaign for the April 23 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Rahul also took a swipe at NDA constituent AIADMK.
Slamming AIADMK as a “mask” for the BJP, he said the latter wanted to install a chief minister in Tamil Nadu who would “sell” Tamil Nadu and listen exactly to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah wanted.
He accused AIADMK, the main opposition party of compromising because of corruption.
Addressing an election rally in central Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli – the third and last in his one-day campaign, he alleged that the BJP wanted, at all costs, to remove DMK president MK Stalin as chief minister and appoint a “puppet” in his place.
Everybody was aware that his relationship with Tamil Nadu was not political but one of mutual respect, love and affection, Rahul said. His ties with the state were very old and the people showed the same warm sentiments and feelings towards him as they had for his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi, he said.
“I want you to know that I will protect the interests of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil people.
I am your solider in Delhi. Whatever Tamil Nadu needs in Delhi, I will fight for that.” People just need to tell him what needs to be done and he would do it, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha promised.
“I am proud of you, for what you have done for this country, your tradition, culture and language. In this election, remember we are fighting to keep the BJP-RSS out of the state,” he said. He earlier addressed election rallies at Ranipet and Ponneri in northern Tamil Nadu.
Behind the Women’s Reservation Bill, he alleged a “diabolic idea” of a bid to change the nation’s electoral map and weaken states and likened the attempt to an “anti-national act” and said it was against the union of states.
The BJP-led government transformed the electoral map of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir and they intend doing it in the rest of the country as well, he alleged.
At Ranipet, located about 120 km from Chennai, Gandhi spoke on the Constitution amendment bill that was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
“Yesterday, you might have seen what PM Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah were trying to do in Parliament.”
“They told the nation a lie, they said they were trying to pass a bill for women’s representation. But hidden behind that bill was a diabolic idea,” he alleged.
“They wanted to change the number of seats that each state gets. They wanted to weaken south Indian states, weaken north eastern states and weaken smaller states…
what the BJP was trying to do yesterday was an anti-national act and it was against the union of states,” he alleged.
The entire opposition stood like a rock and defeated the BJP’s “nefarious design.” The BJP is attacking the democratic foundations of India, he said adding they were using delimitation as a political weapon.
“They have transformed the electoral map of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir and they want to do that to the rest of the country. Their main idea is to attack your (Tamil) history, culture, language and tradition,” Rahul charged. The people have already seen PM Modi “attacking” the Constitution.
The LoP said that the Assembly election was about stopping BJP-RSS from capturing Tamil Nadu.
The Congress is a part of the ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and is contesting from 28 seats.
Launching a scathing attack on the BJP and RSS, Rahul accused them of attempting to undermine the Indian constitution and capture the state.
The BJP’s “one nation, one people, one language” ideology and its push for delimitation were designed to alter the electoral map and weaken Tamil Nadu’s unique identity, history, culture, and language, he claimed.
The Congress leader alleged that Modi was being “controlled” by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu CM.
“Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi’s financial systems and understands Modi’s link with Adani,” the Congress leader alleged.
The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.
At the rally, Rahul, who continued to target the PM, said the latter knew that he could not control or pressurise Stalin, as he was independent, and hence wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could exercise his control over the state.
“He knows that Mr Stalin is independent and will not be pressurised.”
“That is why he wants to remove Stalin and bring a person he can control,” the Congress leader claimed in a veiled reference to AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, who leads the NDA in the state. (PTI)