Comparing the current political milieu to the epic Mahabharata, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the BJP are like Kauravas, who fought for power, while his party, like Pandavas, stands for truth.
In his speech of almost an hour at the 84th plenary of the AICC, he launched a scathing attack on the BJP’s political philosophy. “Like the Kauravs, the BJP and the RSS are designed to fight for power. Like the Pandavs, the Congress is designed to fight for the truth,” he said.
“The people of the country will accept a lying BJP leadership, drunk with power, because they know that is what the BJP is designed for. They will accept a man accused of murder as the president of BJP. But the people will never, never accept the same in the Congress party... The BJP is the voice of an organisation; the Congress is the voice of the nation,” Mr Gandhi said.
Earlier, addressing the plenary, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke on a wide range of issues where he accused the Modi government of “messing up” the economy and mishandling the Jammu and Kashmir situation. Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the economy was in the hands of “ignorant and incompetent policy-makers,” who had derailed growth through reckless policies.
Attacking BJP’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Congress president said it wants every institution, be it the judiciary, legislature or any other institution, to work under them.
“They tell the tribals that the jungle is not yours because we know what to do with it. They tell the millions of Muslims who never went to Pakistan and have supported our great nation- that you don’t belong here! They tell the Tamils that you change your beautiful language. They tell the people from northeast that they don’t like what you eat. They tell women that dress properly or we will thrash you.”
Crony capitalists
Targeting Prime Minister over the issue of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking in the Punjab National Bank to diamond trader Nirav Modi and his firms, Mr Gandhi said, “The name ‘Modi’ symbolises the collusion between India’s biggest crony capitalists and the Prime Minister of India. Modi gives Modi ₹30,000 crore of your money and in turn Modi gives Modi money for marketing and winning elections, that my friend is what is going on.”
Without taking names, Mr Gandhi accused the Union Finance Minister of being silent on the bank scam as he and his daughter worked for crony capitalists.
Made mistakes
Admitting that Congress party failed the expectations of the people during the last few years of the UPA, the Congress chief promised to break down the walls between leaders and party workers. He also gave a call to the youth to join the party and said he has cleared the stage for them.
He said while Congress accepts mistakes, BJP never did either with demonetisation or the hastily implemented Goods and Services Tax. “We are human beings, we can make mistakes. They think they are not human beings, but something else. Perhaps Modiji thinks he is an ‘avatar’ (incarnation) of the God,” he said.
Stating that the Prime Minister was able to build a Modi maya (illusion) with the promise of Acche Din, Swach Bharat and the promise of ₹15 lakh in every bank account by retrieving black money, Mr. Gandhi accused Mr. Modi of jumping from one event to another such as surgical strikes, demonetisation, GST and mass yoga camps. He said the government wanted to divert people’s attention from issues such as unemployment and farm distress with these “fancy’’ events.
“Instead of acknowledging the challenges facing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi diverts our attention from our problems. We are being told that our problems only exist in our imagination.”
The Congress leader added that the corrupt and powerful today “control conversation” in the country and the “name Modi symbolises the collusion between crony capitalists and the Prime Minister”.
Promising a new vision where India would take the lead, Mr Gandhi said, “There are [now] two visions in the world — of the U.S. and China. In 10 years, I want to see India’s vision there.”
Addressing party workers, he said he would break walls between them and party leaders and vowed to fill the Congress stage with “talented youngsters”.
Stressing the need for discipline within the party, Mr Gandhi said, “Let us put all differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party.”
