Throwing a challenge at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress national president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday dared him to hold a 15-minute on-camera television debate on serious issues, while dubbing the battle between the Congress and the BJP as a ‘fight of ideologies’.
At the same time, Rahul Gandhi accused the saffron party, and the PM Modi of spreading hatred during a public rally ‘Mission 13’ in Killi Chahlan village on the outskirts of Moga town, to officially sound the poll bugle in Punjab.
Lashing out at the BJP from left, right and centre, Rahul Gandhi touched several issues ranging from the farm distress to poverty, drugs, besides national issues like Rafael deal, increasing poverty, among others.
Rahul Gandhi, in his half-an-hour address, took on the Prime Minister for his failure on all counts, while challenging him to a 15-minute debate on critical issues such as Rafale and farm loan waiver. “People’s hard-earned money is being given to certain industrialists,” he alleged without naming anyone.
He alleged that Modi was giving money to industrialists but was not waiving the debt of the state that had fought terrorism.
In a no holds barred attack on Modi, Rahul claimed that the Prime Minister waived off “debt amounting Rs 3.5 lakh crore of 15 rich industrialists in the country in past five years...including that of country’s richest industrialist. Everyone knows his name! But when it comes to farmers, he cannot waive off a single rupee”.
“Can Modi explain why he snatched Rs 30,000 crore from our Indian Air Force (IAF) and put it in the pocket of Anil Ambani? Can he explain why his government is not returning Rs 31,000 crore of Punjab which is hard-earned money of farmers?” said Rahul while lashing out at Modi.
“It is right when our Prime Minister says he has worked a lot in five years...He indeed has worked a lot for rich industrialists but not for poor and farmers. But Congress is doing that in Punjab and other states. If debts of rich can be waived, why not those of poor,” he said.
“While ‘chowkidar’ is always at service for rich and mighty, he is not ready to return Rs 31,000 crore to Punjab Government which is hard earned money of the farmers,” said Rahul while referring to the Cash Credit Limit (CCL) issue of food account ongoing between the Centre and Punjab Government since 2017.
Alleging that Punjab’s money is being held back just because it is not BJP-ruled state, Rahul, on the other hand, lauded Capt Amarinder for the farm debt waiver scheme of which the Chief Minister has launched the fourth phase on Thursday to provide relief worth Rs 200 crores to another 15,000 small farmers besides bringing Dalit and landless labourers into the purview of the scheme by waiving off Rs 520 crores of the loan of 2.82 lakh farm labourers.
Lambasting Modi for “tweaking” the Rafale deal conditions to favour Ambani, he said: “Modi has played a cruel joke on the farmers by giving them Rs 3.50 a day while giving industrialists crores of rupees as a gift. The Congress, on coming to power at the Centre, would ensure a minimum guarantee scheme for all.”
This chowkidar is clearly a chor, declared Rahul, while pointing to the Rs 30,000 crore benefit given to Ambani and the missing Rafale files, which would have shown that the arrival of the jets was delayed because of the parallel negotiations by the Modi government.
The delay was costing the Indian Air Force (IAF) heavily, whose pilots’ lives had been endangered by Modi, he said amid loud cheers.
Alleging that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was brought without any consultations, Rahul said that it had resulted only in losses to businesses. “We will change GST once we are in power in 2019,” he announced.
ACCUSES MODI, BJP OF SPREADING HATRED
Accusing the Prime Minister and BJP of spreading hatred in the country, Rahul said that the next election would be an ideological fight and Guru Nanak's philosophy of love and mutual respect would win. “On the one hand, there is Guru Nanak Devji's ideology, and on the other, it is the RSS ideology of spreading hatred,” he said.
“We remember Guru Nanak Dev ji on this land. Guru Nanak ji had shown the path of love and brotherhood, not only to Punjab but also to the whole nation...But today, the situation in the country is of hatred and anger. The BJP people and Prime Minister ji are spreading hatred in the country against which Guru Nanak Dev ji had spent his entire life…In a way, his (Guru Nanak’s) thoughts are being attacked. It is not only happening in Punjab, but in the entire country,” said Rahul.
Alleging that the real issues were being ignored, Rahul Gandhi attacked Modi for allegedly failing to honour promises he made five years back, such as two crore jobs each year and remunerative prices for farmers. “If you look in the country and ask the youth what do you do? They will reply: ‘nothing’,” he added.
WILL ERADICATE POVERTY FROM INDIA
Reiterating the slogan given by his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of “gareebi hatao” (alleviating poverty), Rahul blamed Modi for increasing poverty in the country.
“Hindustan main jo Narendra Modi ji ne garibi badhai hai, jin logon ko berozgaar kiya hai, hum Hindustan se garibi ko mita denge,” he declared.