In an attempt to control the damage done to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s image by his outburst over the Ordinance issue, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday showered praises on the Sikh leader and called Singh his ‘political guru.’
In an attempt to connect with the people of Punjab, Rahul strategically made the statement during his visit to the State, where the people relate to Singh, and in fact, thanked the State for “giving us the Prime Minister.”
Sounding the poll bugle in Punjab by addressing a mammoth rally in Sangrur, the Gandhi scion showered praises on the Prime Minister.
“You gave me Manmohan Singh. I have two gurus in politics — one is the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the other is Dr Manmohan Singh,” said Rahul.
This statement comes just days after his public criticism of the Manmohan Singh Government over the Ordinance on convicted lawmakers while the Prime Minister was on a US visit. Rahul had surprised everyone by saying that the Ordinance was “nonsense” and needed to be “torn and thrown away.”
After having humiliated the Prime Minister on the issue Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said: “What he has done for the country, no one has done.”
“I want to stress that no one else has done so much for the development of our country as Manmohan Singh has. The most important quality of a politician must be good intention. If intention is clear, we can achieve everything. Manmohan Singh has a pure intention,”
he asserted.
Striking a chord with the huge Punjabi crowd, the youth leader lauded the efforts of the farmers from Punjab and neighbouring Haryana for providing food to the country. "We now talk about food security. I can tell you that Punjab provides food to the entire country. I want to reiterate that without the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, we cannot ensure food security in our country," he said.
Once again raising the controversial issue of the drug menace in the State, Gandhi highlighted the plight of mothers who fear their children will take to drugs.
"I am sure that there won't be a single mother in Punjab who is not worried about her children. The main reason for that fear is the menace of drugs…Mothers in Punjab fear the menace of drugs and the youth fear unemployment…We need to take the fear of drugs and unemployment out of Punjab in order to take this State forward," Gandhi underscored.
Highlighting the achievements of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, Gandhi said: "We have been running a Government from 2004. We have redefined the concept of development. People ask us, what has the UPA done for the peopleIJ We say we gave you the right to employment, right to education, right to food and right to information. These rights empowered the people in our country."
Gandhi said he favoured bringing more women into politics, as "we can bring about a positive change only if we do so."
The youth icon also talked about the reports of threats being faced by Sikh farmers in Gujarat. "I request the Akali Dal Government here to please advice your partner (BJP) to stop such misdeeds (of eviction of Sikh farmers from Gujarat) and give their lands back to them," he said.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi attended a function at Sangrur to lay the foundation stone of a 500-bed Satellite Centre of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, in the presence of Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
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