Tamil Nadu needs new thinking and a new government, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi told a gathering at a reception organised at the SITRA-Kalapatti Road Junction on Saturday.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Tamil Nadu, which showed the way for the rest of the country in industrialisation, has now fallen backwards. There was a lot that the rest of the country had learnt from the State. But that is not the case now. And that is why Tamil Nadu needs a new thinking and new government,” he said.
The Congress would work with the people to provide the government that they deserved and would be proud of. “I am committed to you, the people of the State. I will work with you to help you get a government that you deserve,” he said adding that this was against the way the Narendra Modi government worked. The government that believed in one culture, language and idea of India considered Tamil as subservient to its ideology, Mr. Gandhi said and charged that the Modi government treated Tamils as second-class citizens. “Congress is for an idea of India where every language and culture thrives,” he said.
The Modi government was concerned about the welfare of three or four industrialists, the former Congress president said. “Mr. Modi has partnered with three or four industrialists, who have provided him media. And he [Mr. Modi] has provided them money.” It was to those industrialists that the Modi government tried to pledge the welfare of farmers by enacting the three farm laws. It was to protect the farmers that the Congress supported the agitation in Delhi and opposed the laws, Mr. Gandhi noted.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Gandhi is on a three-day tour of the Western districts of the State meeting industrialists, farmers, students and entrepreneurs.