The Congress on Wednesday asked the voters of Haryana to oust the BJP in the October 5 polls, saying this is a fight against “injustice and untruth” and also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging he is the leader of those who break trust and an expert in telling lies.
Urging the people of Haryana not to fall for BJP’s poll promises, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge claimed the party has failed to fulfil commitments made to voters in the past.
At an election rally at Badhra in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri, Kharge targeted the BJP over several issues, including demands for debt waiver and legal guarantee on MSP from farmers, and claimed people have made up their mind to bring the Congress to power in the state.
“It is Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri’s birth anniversary today. Mahatma Gandhi taught us truth and non-violence. I don’t want to say this - how much truth and how much lies those in power speak,” he said.
“Modi ji toh bharosa todne walo ka bhi sardar hai (Modi is the leader of those who break trust.) His numerous lies, promises, you know about them,” he said in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik.
Addressing a public meeting in Julana to campaign for Congress candidate from the constituency and Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the BJP-led government in the state over employment, the Agniveer military recruitment scheme and farmers’ welfare among other issues and also alleged that the ruling party “betrayed” people at every stage.
Referring to the wrestlers’ protest last year, she said injustice was done to Vinesh and her companions.
In Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna gave the message of Bhagavad Gita and said whenever injustice takes place in the world, the voice of truth and justice will rise, she said.
Priyanka Gandhi told the gathering that an “opportunity has come again, similar to the battle of Kurukshetra and the fight against the British rule. There is no difference,” she said.
“Today, this is your fight against injustice, untruth and the wicked (“dushton”). You will have to stand up, you will have to look within yourself and see what is happening,” she added.
Meanwhile, her brother and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi shared a seven-minute video of his conversation with sportspersons in Haryana and said India cannot achieve its true potential in sports till a system is put in place that directly supports players and makes them in-charge of various sports bodies instead of politicians.
In the video, he is seen listening to problems of sportspersons from Haryana.
The Congress is contesting in 89 of the total 90 assembly seats leaving the Bhiwani segment for INDIA bloc ally CPI-M.
In his speech, Kharge while referring to Congress’s poll promises in Haryana said the party has given seven guarantees in its manifesto including Rs 2,000 per month for women and told Hooda, who was standing behind him, “You will have to keep my honour”.
Congress has not named its chief ministerial candidate, but Hooda is a frontrunner for the post.
Invoking Lal Bahadur Shastri’s “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” slogan, he said the BJP doesn’t “know about jawans or kisans”.
“They only know the RSS’ agenda. No one is a farmer in the RSS or BJP. This is why they don’t understand the pain of the farmers. They help people like Adani-Ambani and not farmers. They don’t give MSP guarantee, but Modi waives Rs 16 lakh crore debt of the rich,” he said and also criticised the Agnipath military recruitment scheme.
Keep such people at bay, Kharge said.
He also fired a fresh salvo at the BJP after his “will not die till Modi is ousted” remarks.
“I had gone to Jammu and Kashmir and felt dizzy for a while. There I said till the time we oust the BJP from power, till that time I won’t breathe my last. But they played it up so much, they taunted me by saying may he live for 125 years and see ‘Viksit Bharat’,” he said.
“Pehle to ye dekho, aapke log dekhne ke liye zinda rahege ya nahi rahege, wahan toh Congress aake baithne wali hai” (first, you see whether your people will be alive or not to see it, The Congress is about to sit in power),” he said.
Kharge said Modi made so many promises during the past 10 years including “putting Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s bank account and giving two crore jobs to youth each year, but everyone knows the fate of these promises”.
The Congress president said the BJP is saying during the polls in Haryana that they will give five lakh jobs, whereas they did not fill over 1.60 lakh vacant posts.
“Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief minister for nine-and-a-half years, but he was changed. He was changed because that engine failed. Had their work been proper, had they kept their promises, what was the need to change.
“The fact that they changed him means they have not been able to fulfil the promises they made to people,” he said.
In her speech, Priyanka Gandhi claimed the Modi government only works for the benefit of a handful of industrialists and has been unable to generate employment opportunities as it has given “everything to Ambani and Adani”.
Referring to the Agnipath scheme, she claimed Agniveers would not get any pension and after four years of service, they would again have to look for employment.
Priyanka Gandhi also criticised the BJP government over the ‘Parivar Pehchan Patra’ scheme, saying it has caused many hardships to people.
“You have been misled for 10 years. You have been seeing injustice with farmers, jawans, wrestlers and women for 10 years,” she said.
In a jibe at the BJP government’s claim of giving MSP on 24 crops, she said 10 of those were not even grown in Haryana.
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