Modi can’t take India forward, says Rahul

Says PM has failed in addressing unemployment and problems in agriculture and national security.

Rahul Gandhi says the Prime Minister made a political and campaign speech.

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress in Parliament, party president Rahul Gandhi responded by saying that Mr. Modi did not know how to take India forward on three critical problems — unemployment and agriculture and national security issues.

He accused the Prime Minister of “protecting those who are involved in alleged corruption in the Rafale deal”.

Key issues

In a detailed statement, Mr. Gandhi said India was creating “an army of one million new unemployed youth” every month, as 30,000 people entered the job market daily and only 450 got jobs. Lack of government support and inadequate prices were forcing farmers to commit suicide. Frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistan had taken many Indian lives and there was a Chinese build-up near Doklam.

“The nation expected the Prime Minister to address these three issues and provide us with a vision … The truth is that the Prime Minister doesn’t know how to take India forward.

“That’s why he reaches into the past,” Mr. Gandhi said in a statement.

Earlier, speaking to presspersons outside the Parliament building, he said the Prime Minister had made a political and campaign speech.

“The Prime Minister talked for one hour, but did not utter a single word about the Rafale deal … We had three clear questions: Did you change the contract in Paris? Did you ask the Cabinet Committee on Security? And how much has been paid for each aircraft?”

“He is right in talking about the Congress, but this is not the place to raise it. Here, you have to answer to the country. You are not to make accusations here,” the Congress chief said.

‘Nothing new’

Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi echoed her son’s view when she said the Prime Minister had nothing new to say and repeated old things. “People are concerned about their jobs, they want to know about their future,” she said after Mr. Modi’s reply to the debate in the Lok Sabha.

Though questions on Rafale deal have been asked for the last three months, the Congress apparently wants to project it as a “case of corruption” against the government before the Karnataka polls. That perhaps explained why prominent leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Verappa Moily [both from Karnataka] called it a scam in the Lok Sabha, while Anand Sharma demanded answers from the government in the Rajya Sabha.