Cong V-P harps on what UPA has done for former Army personnel
In the first big rally ahead of the lok Sabha polls in the State, AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the Congress would make whole-hearted efforts to fulfil the demands of ex-servicemen.
Addressing a gathering of ex-servicemen who have a considerable vote base in Himachal Pradesh, Gandhi said, “The upcoming lok Sabha election is a battle of thoughts. The Congress feels that power should be in each and every hands whether it is from the hills or from the plain or from the urban areas or from the rural areas but this is how the country can be powerful.”
Gandhi addressed a gathering of 1,000 selected ex-servicemen of different ranks at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College at Tanda. He added, “The Opposition thinks that the country could be ruled by the powerful and the rich. The poor finds no place in their ideas.” Gandhi accepted that there are differences between bureaucracy and Armed forces. “I had felt the divide during the One rank-One pension issue,” he said.
The party vice-president said, “You came to me with an issue of One Rank One Pension and I promised to do my best and raised the issue to the Government. I only raised the voice of ex-servicemen and the rest was done by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi,” he said.
He added that Army jawans give their lives while serving the nation and he will do every possible thing to ensure that their demands are met. “We owe a lot to the soldiers and should be grateful to them,” said Gandhi, adding that the Congress party’s ideology is common man’s ideology. later addressing the rally at Dharamshala, police ground, Gandhi took a jibe at BJP and said that the Opposition always talks of dharma, but if one goes through the holy book Gita, people will realise what they do is exactly opposite to what is written in the religious book.
Gandhi alleged that the Opposition BJP has always tried to stall the progressive programmes of Congress in Parliament. The Congress leader said when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi talked about computer and cell phone the two senior leaders of opposition party opposed it in Parliament, stating that it will ruin the country and its youth and farmers. “Incidentally, when computers were successfully introduced in India, they started claiming credit for the same,” he alleged. This was the same story about Himachal Pradesh, when statehood was opposed by opposition leaders.
Counting on the achievements of 10 year rule of UPA in India, Gandhi said the government was able to pull out 15 crore people from Below Poverty line (BPl) and gave right to work, right to job to them.“FDI in retail sector was brought by Congress to ensure that the produce of the farmers, does not get rotten due to lack of facilities and land acquisition bill would ensure that farmers get the deserved price for their land,” said Gandhi adding that Right to Information Act is another big tool to empower the common man.
Gandhi highlighted the agenda of Congress and said that party wanted to induct 70 crore people of the country into ‘middle class’ segment who are below middle class and above poverty line. “Education will be essential tool to bring this change. I feel lesser people have access to higher education. We want more and more youth of the country to get higher education easily,” added Gandhi.
He said to create more employment avenues in the country, manufacturing sector needs to be strengthened and UPA regime has created a dedicated special freight corridor between Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai and Delhi-Kolkata.
On corruption, Gandhi said the UPA government wanted to deal graft with iron hand but opposition stalled six bills tabled in the house that were aimed at eradicating corruption.