Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 10: Playing a cat and mouse game, the Rajasthan Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot sharing a stage with the prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday kept harping on respect for the opposition while Modi showing least respect for the opposition insisted that the county suffered because of the previous government’s misplaced priorities and ignoring development of infrastructure.
With Modi, Governor Kalraj Mishra, BJP state president C P Joshi, Assembly Speaker C P Joshi, who is the MLA from Nathdwara in Rajsamand, Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari and others present on the stage, Gehlot said, “This is the khasiyat (essential characteristic) of democracy, that all are sitting on one stage, be it Congress or BJP (leaders). There are few such occasions. There is no enmity within democracy; there is only a fight of ideology. Everyone has a right to keep their word and I believe that in the country, that tradition should be in a manner where there is love, brotherhood between all castes and religions.”
The event was organised for Modi to lay foundation stones for, inaugurate and dedicate to the nation projects worth over Rs 5,500 crore in Nathdwara. Referring to Modi, Gehlot said, “You gave a statement once … there was mob lynching, Modi-ji gave a statement that these are anti-social elements. This should be the emotion of all of us. The country should continue to stay united … Indira Gandhi-ji became a martyr but did not let Khalistan be created, Rajiv Gandhi was martyred too. Our history says that if we all walk together then this country will stay as one and united.”
“I believe that tension or violence is of no use in any state. It only hinders development, be it at the family, village, state or national level. I hope that your message always keeps the country united … without vipaksh (Opposition), what is paksh (ruling party). The Opposition should be fully respected. I believe that when you move forward in this direction, then the paksh-vipaksh will serve the nation even more strongly.
But Modi while addressing hogged all importance only to the work done by his government accusing the previous governments of politicising the development priorities. Mentioning the development schemes of his government, Modi said some people were “victims of such deformed ideology and full of such negativity that they don’t want to see anything good happening in the country. They just like creating controversies. You might have heard some people sermonising, ‘aata pehle ya data pehle’ (flour first or data first)’, road first or satellite first. But history is witness that for permanent and quick development, creating modern infra along with core facilities is important.”
“The people who weigh everything on the scale of votes can’t make schemes while considering the future of the country,” he said, adding that due to this thinking, infrastructure development had not been prioritised and that the country had suffered because of it.
He said that “if sufficient medical colleges had been constructed earlier, there would have been no dearth of doctors” and that this was true for railways and drinking water schemes too. “People full of negativity have no far-sightedness nor can they think beyond their political interest,” he said.
Modi said Rajasthan had also suffered immense losses because of the failure to create infrastructure with far-sightedness. National highways are being built at twice the speed than before 2014, he added.
Earlier, in his address, Gehlot had praised the laying of national highways, state highways, district roads etc in Rajasthan saying, “Good work has been done in Rajasthan. Our roads are wonderful. Earlier when we used to compare it with Gujarat, it seemed it (Rajasthan) was quite far behind. Now I believe it is not behind, but has moved quite ahead.”
Gehlot said due to sushasan (good governance) in Rajasthan, the state was now number two in economic development at 11.04 per cent, next only to Andhra Pradesh (11.4 per cent). He urged the prime minister to enact a Right to Social Security Act and a Right to Health Act. In the last budget session, Rajasthan became the first state to pass a right-to-health law, though amid protests by doctors.
Modi also had a swipe at the Congress over the public apt between the party’s two top leaders, Gehlot and his detractor and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot. Modi wondered what sort of a government the Congress was running in Rajasthan where the government did not trust its own MLAs and the dissident MLAs in turn did not trust the chief minister. “Everyone in the government is competing to insult each other. When the (Chief Minister’s) chair has been in trouble for all five years (of the Congress government), who will care about Rajasthan’s development,” he said.
Rajasthan Congress leader and former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had yesterday said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s leader seemed to be the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje and not Sonia Gandhi. Pilot had further said he would not quit the party, as he didn’t want to ruin its chances ahead of the Rajasthan election later this year. Instead, he announced a “Jan Sangharsh Yatra” from Ajmer to Jaipur to highlight corruption.
The riposte followed Ashok Gehlot’s stunning remarks last weekend that former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje helped save his government when Sachin Pilot revolted in 2020 along with a few MLAs.
Governor Kalraj Mishra and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot received PM Modi at the airport. This was Modi’s third visit this year to Rajasthan, which goes to polls in December.
Earlier, when Gehlot reached the podium for his address, the crowd started chanting “Modi, Modi” with the prime minister gesturing to the crowds to sit down. When the crowds did not stop, Modi gestured towards the BJP leader C P Joshi, who got up from his chair and gestured to the crowds to calm down. At the beginning of his address, Modi referred to Gehlot as “my friend.”
Earlier in the day, the prime minister performed pooja and darshan at the Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara, interacted with the temple priests and offered bhet puja to Lord Shrinath.