The BJP practises politics by making people fight. It practises the politics of blood because it has nothing to do with the pain caused to the people. It just wants to be in power, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi alleged on Sunday.
“This is the difference between us [the Congress] and them. We want to give the people strength and power; they [the BJP] only want to give speeches and take away the power from the people,” he said at a rally here.
Mr. Gandhi said the BJP talked about corruption. However, the Congress got the biggest tool to fight the menace: the Right to Information Act, which was passed in 2005.
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Attacking the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, Mr. Gandhi said: “Until court intervened, there was no Lokayukta in Gujarat, and there is one person in Gujarat who is outside the purview of the Lokayukta.”
“These days, there is a man who talks about Gujarat throughout the nation. Maybe, he feels he made Gujarat [what it is today]. Gujarat, however, has been formed by its youth, women, Adivasis, Dalits and small businessmen,” he said in a dig at Mr. Modi.
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Mr. Gandhi said the Congress introduced anti-corruption Bills which were held up in the Lok Sabha. “Our ministers spoke to BJP leaders on the phone and requested them to cooperate with the government in getting the Bills passed. But they didn’t extend their support. It is our government at the Centre, and we will try to get the Bills through in the form of ordinances,” he said.
He said: “BJP leaders do not see Yeddyurappa in Karnataka [who faced corruption charges]; they don’t see corruption in Gujarat; they don’t see corruption in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. They cannot see the RTI, the Lokayukta, the Lokpal; all they can see is coming to power.”
The definition of politics for the Congress was to help those in pain, he said. “There definitely might be some lapse [on our part] at times. But our intention is to extend help wherever we see pain.”
The BJP ridiculed the idea of computers when the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, introduced them. However, years later, BJP leaders said their party introduced computers and helped to bring about the telecom revolution, Mr. Gandhi said. The BJP “does not have a vision for the country.”
Listing the Food Security Act, the RTI Act, the Right to Education Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as the major achievements of the party, he said: “The Congress will now focus on the right to health for the poor.”
Before the rally, Mr. Gandhi attended a meeting to review rehabilitation and reconstruction works in Uttarakhand, which was ravaged by floods last year. “Chief Minister Harish Rawat has told me that the required infrastructure will be built before the start of the tourist season this year.”
“In June [last year], when a major disaster struck Uttarakhand, I could see that the entire nation stood together. Only a select few try to create differences among the people of different castes and communities,” he said, in an apparent reference to the BJP.
As for the Women’s Reservation Bill, he said: “We have given women reservation in local bodies. Now we will give them place in the Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha.”
Women’s participation in politics was indispensable for India to become a super power, he said: “Wherever possible, the Congress will put women on its ticket.”