‘Toffee model’ of development in Guj, Cong V-P mocks NaMo
Singling out Narendra Modi for a most stinging attack, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the Gujarat model of development a “toffee model” and accused the Gujarat Chief Minister of handing over vast tracts of land to “only one” industrialist at a nominal rate, while ignoring the interests of the farmers and the poor.
Addressing an election rally at latur in Marathwada region, Rahul said: “In Gujarat, Modi handed over land the size of Aurangabad to one industrialist Adani for just Rs 300 crore. He gave the land at the rate of Rs 1 per meter. In all, he handed 45,000 acres of land to that industrialist. In Gujarat Adani gets one meter of land for one rupee. Here you get one toffee for a rupee. This is not Gujarat model this is toffee model.” Charging Modi with having teamed with industrialist Adani in Gujarat, Rahul said that the Gujarat Chief Minister had gone out of the way to dole out huge benefits to “only one” industrialist.
“When it all started, Adani company’s turnover was Rs 3,000-crore ten years ago. It was at that time that Modi handed Adani over huge tracts of land. Today, Adani’s has become a Rs 40,000-crore company. How has the value of the company increasedIJ Not because it sold something. It is because the Modi Government handed over huge tracts of land belonging to farmers or the State to Adani,” he said.
Dwelling upon the emerging “Modi-Adani” partnership, Rahul said: “Earlier in the BJP there used to be a leader named Advani. There was another leader Jaswant Singh. Both were sidelined. Now a new leader has come to the fore. His name is Modi. Earlier there used to be a partnership of Vajpayee and Advani. With Advani having been sidelined, it is now a partnership between Modi and Adani. Adani is an industrialist in Gujarat.”
Citing another instance of the “Toffee Model” of Gujarat, Rahul said that the Modi Government had extended a loan of Rs 10,000-crore to Tatas at a nominal rate of 1 per cent interest to be returned in 20 years for the manufacture of Nano car in Gujarat. “While farmers get loans at the rate of 12 to 14 per cent, Modi extended a loan of Rs 10,000-crore at the rate of one per cent interest and that too for a period of 20 years. The amount of money that Modi gave as soft loan to Tatas is much more than what is collectively spent on health and education in Gujarat,” he said.
Rahul said that while the “BJP promises empowerment to women, but it beats, harasses, and stalks women. In Delhi, I saw a BJP poster saying ‘BJP will give power to women’. Then I went to Karnataka where our CM talked about how BJP-RSS people badly beat up women in Mangalore for going to a pub. I went to Chhattisgarh, where I learnt 20,000 women have vanished,” he said. “Do you know what happens in GujaratIJ The CM there uses the power you vest in him, the power he is supposed to use for your development, to tap phones of women. The police was sent after the woman to snoop on her activities. Your power is used for this. They give away land in Gujarat, and then put up ‘India Shining’ posters. They tap women’s phone, and put up ‘power to women posters. Our Chief Minister here uses power bestowed by you for your development. This is the difference between us and them,” the Congress vice-president said.
Rahul expressed confidence that the Congress would form the next Government at the Centre. “When we win the 2014 elections, every poor person will get free medicines, and the doors of the hospitals will be thrown open to the poor,” he said, as he spoke about the steps taken by the ruling UPA to bring in reforms in the health sector. On the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project undertaken by the UPA Government, Rahul said: “When you look at your T-shirts, shoes or watches, you see a ‘Made in China’ marking. When our Government comes, we will change that to ‘Made in latur’ or ‘Made in Maharashtra’. We have created an industrial corridor between four metros to boost manufacturing, and laid down roads, other infrastructure, a dedicated railway line. The industrial corridor will pass close to latur and crores of youths will get employment.”