Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 4: The former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the BJP and the Narendra Modi government at the centre of dividing the country on the communal lines and said the hatred they were spreading was not benefitting the people in the country but the advantages was going only to the two inimical neighbours, China and Pakistan.
Addressing a large crowd of Congress workers and others at the party’s mega rally ”Mehangai Par Halla Bol” at the Ramlila Maidan as a preparatory to its “Bharat Jodo Yatra” from September 7, Gandhi said there was growing hatred since the BJP government came to power. He said people are afraid — about their future, inflation, and unemployment — and that’s turning them towards hate. “BJP and RSS are dividing the country,” he added.
Gandhi followed a familiar script and spoke on his pet themes that he had been repeating over the years. Mirroring his earlier speeches, he accused the BJP Government of spreading “hatred, anger and fear” and said hatred does not benefit the country but it only weakens it and in turn benefits China and Pakistan,” he said to a loud applause.
He also alleged that the Modi government was working “round the clock” to provide benefits only to “two industrialists,” apparently referring to Ambanis and Adanis, and claimed that agencies like the CBI, ED, and the Income Tax Department are used to target those who speak against the Prime Minister.
Several senior party leaders addressed the audience before Gandhi stepped in with his no holds barred attacks against the PM and ruling BJP. “Narendra Modi is taking the country backwards, he is spreading hatred. Pakistan and China are benefitting from this. PM Modi has weakened India in the last eight years,” he said. “Ever since the BJP government came to power at the Centre, hatred and anger has been increasing in the country. There is pressure on institutions such as media, judiciary, Election Commission, and the government is attacking all of them,” Gandhi said.
Launching an all-out attack on the Modi government, he said the government had shut the path of the Opposition from speaking in Parliament, and the “only way for us is to talk directly to people and tell the truth of the country to people and hear them out.” He said this is precisely why the Congress party is starting the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ which will help talk directly to people and discuss their issues.
Accusing the centre of being “insensitive” to the pain of the common people due to rising prices, Gandhi said the Congress would continue fighting for their cause on the streets as the principal opposition. He said the country had never seen such kind of price rise. “Common people are in great difficulty. Opposition is not allowed to raise these issues in parliament, be it tensions with China, inflation, or unemployment,” he added.
The Congress leader said the country cannot create jobs now even if it wants to as the Government has broken the back of small and medium enterprises which traditionally have created jobs. Unemployment, he added, would increase even more.
Gandhi lashed out at the Government over the rise in prices of fuel and food items. He reeled out figures comparing the prices of petroleum prices and some essential food items between 2014 and now. “On one hand you are hit by unemployment and on the other, you are impacted by price rise…India has never seen such a price rise.
The rally sets the stage for Rahul Gandhi to hit the street with the party’s 3,500-km ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir starting September 7, where the former party President will walk across the country highlighting the issues of price rice and unemployment, and promoting communal harmony. The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra‘ is being touted as the Congress party’s biggest ever mass contact programme, where the party leaders will reach out to the common people at the grassroots level.
“With this yatra, we intend to meet the common people and tell them about the lies spread by the government and other issues,” he said. Taking aim at the Prime Minister, the Congress MP said “only two businessmen” are enjoying benefits from the government. “Be it airport, port, roads…everything is being taken over by these two people,” he said. “The Prime Minister’s ideology says that we should give benefits to two people. Our ideology says everyone should benefit from the country’s progress,” he said, accusing the Modi government of being unable to provide employment to the needy.
To mobilise people for its ambitious event, Congress leaders had held press conferences in 22 cities across the country this week giving a call to the people for “Dilli Chalo” for Sunday’s rally. In a Facebook post in Hindi, Rahul Gandhi had said the biggest problems facing the country today are unemployment, inflation, and growing hatred.
Speaking with the media ahead of the rally on Saturday, General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal had hit out at the BJP-led Centre for its “wrong policies” and alleged it was busy “buying MLAs” and toppling Opposition governments. “This government is totally insensitive. You can compare the prices, from 2014 to 2022, how the prices of essential commodities have shot up,” said Mr Venugopal, flanked by Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and Ajay Maken.
Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said the Centre has been “misusing the CBI and ED” to “silence the Opposition” but the party will continue to raise its voice against the rising inflation and imposition of GST on essential food items.