All India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi has stated that on forming the next government at the Centre the Congress party will conduct “surgical strike against poverty” and not against the poor as being done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Mr. Modi has conducted surgical strike against the poor by introducing the Gabbar Singh Tax (Goods and Services Tax) and resorting to demonetisation, all to help the rich of the country and help them convert their black money into white money and at the same time killing the small business”, Mr. Gandhi said addressing an election rally at Zaheerabad located about 100 km away from Hyderabad.
Devoting a lion's share of his 30-minute speech in hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the “divisive policies” of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress president explained how Mr. Modi became the Chowkidar (guard) of 15-20 rich persons including Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya and turned Chor (thief) for the common man by denying them employment opportunities and basic needs such as education and health.
The BJP had been working to divide the society by pitting one religion against other and one region against other, while the Congress had been fighting to eliminate the hatred and unite the country, Mr. Gandhi said.
He assured the poorest of the poor, about five crore families, in the country whose monthly income was less than ₹12,000 of supporting with ₹72,000 a year for five years by crediting the amount directly to their bank accounts.
“Mr. Modi has failed to keep the promise of putting ₹15 lakh money into the bank account of every poor person, but the Congress party has done its homework well for the last six months to credit the bank accounts of the poorest of the poor by ₹3.6 lakh in the five years”, Mr. Gandhi said alleging that the incumbent Prime Minister had made only Mr. Anil Ambani richer by ₹35,000 crore, Mr. Nirav Modi and Mr. Mehul Choksi by ₹30,000 crore, and Mr. Vijay Mallya by ₹10,000 crore.
Besides, the Modi government had also written off the ₹3.5 lakh crore debt, money borrowed from banks, which is also equivalent to the amount required for implementing MGNREGS for five years, only to help 15 corporate companies. “His (Mr. Modi's) daily routine starts with helping 15 to 20 rich persons by different ways and means”, the AICC president alleged.
He also criticised the Modi Government for snatching 27,000 jobs every hour while China was providing jobs to 50,000 youth and also for denying the farmer remunerative price to any of the crop. He stated that the Congress, after forming the government, would spend 6% of the GDP on education by establishing new universities, colleges and institutions.
Rahul claims tacit understanding between TRS and BJP
Turning to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government in the State, Mr. Gandhi alleged that there was a tacit understanding between TRS and BJP and that was the reason why Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had never spoken about the Rafale deal. He cautioned people of the State that their vote for TRS would be a vote for BJP indirectly.
