Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi poked fun at his oratory skill, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday greeted him with a poser: What was contained in the “10 packets” allegedly
given by the Sahara Group to him when he was the Gujarat Chief MinisterIJ
Speaking at the ‘jan aakrosh rally’ at Bahraich in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Rahul waved sheets of paper which purportedly contained details of charges against Modi having allegedly accepted money from Sahara and Birla groups when he was Gujarat Chief Minister and asked the Prime Minister to tell whether the documents were correct or not. The Congress vice president told the Prime Minister that he could make fun of him as much as he can but should answer the questions raised by him.
“The charges have not been levelled by me alone but by the youth of India who feel cheated as you had promised them jobs,” an aggressive Rahul said.
Sticking to his guns, he alleged Modi as the Gujarat Chief Minister had taken Rs 40 crore from the Sahara
group in nine installments spread over six months in 2013 and 2014.
Coming down hard against note ban, he insisted that the Prime Minister came out with the surprise decision not to help the poor but the “super rich 50 families of India”.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Rahul dubbed him as a “super event planner” who had made “perfect planning” to take the money from the poor to help the rich who owe as much as Rs 8 lakh crore to the banks.
“Suck the money from the poor and feed the rich. Take the money from 99 per cent and give it to one per cent,” said Rahul, adding that this was the essence of the note ban and not to weed out black money and help the poor as claimed by Modi.
“Modiji first tell us what was contained in the ten packets from Sahara,” the Congress vice president tweeted before he went on to address a rally in Bahraich.
At a rally in Mehsana in the Prime Minister’s home turf, Rahul on Wednesday accused Modi of taking money from Sahara and Birla groups when he was Gujarat Chief Minister. BJP however rejected the allegations as “baseless, shameful and mala fide”.
Along with the tweet, Rahul posted a document purportedly with the Income Tax Department of nine entries from October 2013 to February 14 detailing “cash payments made to Modiji”.
After having threatened an “earthquake” expose for the last few days during the just concluded Winter Session, the Congress vice-president in a Press conference, along with several opposition leaders, had announced he had some “concrete” proof of Modi’s personal complicity in the “demonetisation scam”.
Rahul’s comments came close on the heels of the Prime Minister, at a function in Varanasi, ridiculing Rahul’s remarks about creating an “earthquake” with accusations of corruption against him. Modi said he is happiest since the Congress leader has “learnt” to speak as he has unwittingly admitted the “failure” of his party’s reign.
The Congress vice president, who stopped his speech in respect to the ‘aazan’ at a nearby mosque, alleged the country has been divided into two groups where 1 per cent rich are in one group, while 99 per cent honest the other. “The policies of your Government over two years have put 60 per cent wealth in the hands of 1 per cent people of the country,” he said.
He alleged Modi is not recovering loans from those who had helped him in “marketing” in the lok Sabha election and has brought note ban to halt the wealth of 99 per cent in banks for a long time.
“Everyday our farmers are committing suicide. We went to the PM with these problems, but the PM did not say even a word,” he alleged. He said, “Black money is with those who travel in jets with you (the PM), not with those who are standing in long queues”.
“How many black money holders have been put in jail by ModiIJ Not even one. He, instead, made lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya run away. labourers don’t purchase goods through debit or credit cards. They buy it with cash,” he said.
Claiming that Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament the intention behind note ban was good but its implementation faulty, Rahul said the Home Minister had perhaps failed to understand Modi.
CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said such utterances are best “abandoned” after one becomes Prime Minister and demanded an impartial enquiry into the “serious allegations” against him.
Without making direct mention of Congress vice president Rahul’s allegation against Modi that he took money from Sahara and Birla groups when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, Yechury said the charges deserve a proper response.
“Serious allegations deserve impartial enquiry & a proper response. This language is best abandoned after becoming PM,” Yechury tweeted.