Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday targeted the Modi government on various issues, such as farmers’ distress and alleged favouring of corporates, while alleging that demonetisation was the “biggest scam of the world”.
Addressing the party’s Jan Akansha Rally (people’s expectation rally) here, Mr. Gandhi said there would be a coalition government at the Centre and in Bihar soon as the Congress would now play on the “front foot along with its alliance partners”.
He got loud cheers from the crowd when he promised that Patna University would be accorded the status of a Central university, if the Congress coalition was voted to power. Earlier, in a programme at the university, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declined Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s appeal for the same.
“With Nalanda University and Patna University, Bihar earlier was the seat of learning in the country and the world. Now it has become the centre of unemployment …but, again Bihar will be the centre of education when our government is formed,” Mr. Gandhi said.
“Along with [RJD leaders] Tejashwi [Yadav] and Lalu Prasad, we will now play on the front foot and form governments at the Centre and Bihar too after the Lok Sabha election and Bihar poll thereafter.”
Mr. Gandhi alleged that “there was a debt of ₹1 lakh crore on Anil Ambani which is three times the total MGNREGA funding…PM Modi gave ₹30,000 crore to Anil Ambani in the Rafale deal and only ₹3.50 to each member of a farmer’s family in the country”.
He said a Congress-led government at the Centre would waive loans of farmers of the entire country as it did in three States where it recently came to power. “Earlier, 27% of the sugar in the country was provided by the farmers of Bihar but now they could give only 2%... farmers have to pay from their own pocket for insurance of their crops but even that money goes into the pockets of Anil Ambani and Nirav Modi,” he alleged.
Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh too addressed the rally, along with leaders of the Grand Alliance constituents like Tejashwi Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Jitan Ram Manjhi. Rashtriya Lok Samata Party president Upendra Kushwaha couldn’t attend as he was injured in a clash with police on Saturday.
