Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched the party’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls in Gujarat, with stinging criticism of the NDA government for demonetisation and the GST rates, which, he said, have ruined small businesses, traders and entrepreneurs and farmers.
In a “direct dialogue” with party workers at the Sabarmati riverfront here, Mr. Gandhi said, “The entire focus of Mr. Modi was on 50-60 industrial groups at the cost of small traders, businessmen, farmers and students.”
High rates
“You know the outcome of note bandi (demonetisation), which has ruined the lives of businessmen, traders, farmers and poor people. Similarly, this GST with highest tax rates of 28% is killing small and medium enterprises which generate jobs in the country,” Mr. Gandhi said, responding to a question from a party worker in an open forum. Besides targeting the Modi government, Mr. Gandhi made it clear that this time “tickets will only be given on merit and no turncoat or any leader without a base will be parachuted as candidate.”
Answering questions from workers, Mr. Gandhi exuded confidence that nobody could stop the party from coming to power in the State, saying “Even PM Modi ji and BJP are worried about the outcome of Assembly polls in Gujarat.”
“The Gujarat model stands exposed now because you cannot hide the truth for very long. This model did not help farmers, students, Dalits, tribals or even small and medium enterprises, which form the backbone of Gujarat’s economy,” Mr. Gandhi said, adding “only 5 to 10 big industrial houses have benefited from this model.”
Asked by a party worker why the media was not exposing the Modi government, Mr. Gandhi hit out at the Prime Minister for “putting undue pressure on media”.
He said: “You all know very well that media is not run by farmers or small traders; it’s run by corporate who are close to Modi ji because he is taking care of their interests.” However, he also stressed that not all media outlets were toeing the corporate line.
According to him, Gujarat, which once showed the way for industrialisation and economic and social development thanks to initiative like Amul cooperative model, is now witnessing unemployment because small businesses have been neglected.
On GST, Mr. Gandhi said that during the UPA regime, the GST rate was capped at 18% but the present government raised it to 28% and that has severely affected businessmen across the country.
During his 45 minute interaction, Mr Gandhi also mentioned about Patidar agitation and said Gujarat’s education system has failed because the system is meant to exploit students who don’t get jobs even after spending lakhs while studying in private institutes.
Mr. Gandhi will be leading a yatra in the State later to spearhead the campaign as well as revive the party’s organisational base in the State.
