Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took strong potshots at the Narendra Modi Government by saying that it has launched a “Fair & lovely” scheme to convert black money into white and lashed out at his foreign policy saying UPA Government “worked tirelessly for years to trap Pakistan” and “destroyed their reputation internationally” but the Prime Minister “wasted” strategic and diplomatic gains by visiting Pakistan for what he described “chai pe charcha” with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
Delivering his larger part of his speech in Hindi on the Motion of Thanks to President’s Address, Rahul also questioned the veracity of the Naga accord which he said Prime Minister claimed to have “solved” the Naga insurgency problem.
“Where has this accord goneIJ” he asked and then went on to say “gone with the wind” (alluding to a famous American novel). Rahul claimed that except the Prime Minister neither the Chief Ministers of the North-Eastern States nor Home Minister Rajnath Singh knew about “the so called Naga accord.” “Is it not insult to citizens and Indian flag,” he wondered saying that hearing out all kinds of voices and developing “conversation and relationship” with the citizens is respecting the national flag.
In a similar vein, the Congress vice-president maintained “you are not defending the flag when you are silencing people”. Rahul said he did not feel insulted when black flags were shown to him in JNU campus. “Instead I felt proud as different views coexisted in the country,” he asserted.
Amid interruptions from the treasury benches, he advised the Prime Minister to hear out his Cabinet colleagues, MPs and Opposition before firming up policy decisions for the country.
He claimed that UPA consulted everyone and had almost put Pakistan in a tight spot when the Modi-Government let it go with its slipshod foreign policies. In a stinging attack in the house on Prime Minister, Rahul accused the former of releasing Pakistan from a small “cage” in which it was put after the 26/11 attacks by his sudden visit to lahore.
“The work done by the UPA has made us all proud. We conducted Panchayat elections, created self-help groups, which generated employment. We had broken the back of insurgency in Kashmir completely.
“And what did the Prime Minister doIJ He decided to have a cup of tea with Nawaz Sharif without any vision. He decided to take a detour to Pakistan. Just like the Naga Accord. He did not bother to consult anyone...The people in intelligence, the diplomats.
“Perhaps he did not even talk to (External Affairs Minister) Sushmaji (Swaraj). Only his opinion matters. He single handedly destroyed the six years of work done by the UPA,” Rahul said.
Referring to Finance Minister Jaitley’s Budget speech, the Congress leader quipped that the Modi-Government’s scheme would now allow each thief in the country to convert black money into white.
He said before the BJP Government came to power at Centre, Modi had asserted that he will finish all black money and put in jail any one possessing it but now, Rahul said the Modi-Government advocates “Fair & lovely scheme main kisi ko jail nahin hogi, Jaitley ke pas jaiye tax dijiye aur safed kar dijiye (Before the lok Sabha polls, Modi said he will put in jail black money hoarders and now he says go to Jaitley and convert black into white”).
In a satirical comment, Rahul recalled the two crore job promise each year by Prime Minister saying he showed “Make in India’s Babbar sher” (PM showed logo of lion representing make it India) but employment remained out of the sight.
He alleged that while Modi criticised MNREGA, his Finance Minister maintained that it was a good scheme. “I asked Jaitley why he does not tell his bossIJ But he did not say anything”. In between when Rahul slipped while incorrectly mentioning MNREGA, he gave a riposte saying “it is Mahatma Gandhi Yojana, Savarkar Yojana nahin”.