Modi ‘antiDalit’, serving only the rich, says Rahul
POLL CAMPAIGN Takes on Modi over agrarian distress, women’s safety and loan waiver DATIA/ DABRA (GWALIOR):
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being anti-Dalit and serving only the interests of the rich, while promising a farm loan waiver within 10 days, jobs to the youth and bank loans to budding entrepreneurs if his party forms government in Madhya Pradesh.
In his second campaign tour of the state this month, Gandhi – he started his day with a visit to Pitambara Peeth temple in Datia — kept up his attack on Modi over the Rafale offsets contract to Anil Ambani’s defence company and the alleged bank frauds by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, and diamantaires Nirav Modi and Méhul Choksi. He also took on Modi over agrarian distress, women’s safety, price rise, corruption, loan waiver to industrialists and unemployment, issues he has made his campaign talking points in recent elections.
The Congress president is on a two-day election tour of the Gwalior-Chambal belt, which sends 34 legislators to the 231-member (230 elected and one nominated) Madhya Pradesh assembly. In the 2013 assembly elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had bagged 20 seats while the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won 12 and 2 seats respectively.
In a region where caste plays a crucial role in deciding electoral fortunes and the BSP has some footing, Gandhi spoke about Dalit activist and Hyderabad university PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, who allegedly committed suicide in 2016. “Rohith only wanted to study, but he was oppressed and forced to commit suicide by forces you all know,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi claimed that under Modi’s rule, the Dalits were being beaten in Gujarat while minorities were being lynched and tribals suppressed. He countered the BJP’s oft-repeated charge that the Congress had done nothing in 70 years, saying that the BJP was insulting not his party but the forefathers who had toiled hard to make the country what it is today.
Hoping to wrest power from the BJP that has been ruling the state since 2003, Gandhi promised that a Congress government, if elected, would work for 18 hours a day to provide jobs to the youth. He spoke in the presence of state party chief Kamal Nath and campaign committee chairperson Jyotiraditya Scindia.
“Within 10 days of forming a government in Madhya Pradesh, we will announce a loan waiver for farmers,” he said, adding that the party stands united to oust the BJP on November 28, when the state votes. The Congress president hit out at the Prime Minister, alleging that the country’s watchman was only “protecting the interests of 10-15 crony capitalist friends” and “ignoring the concerns” of farmers, unemployed youth and women. In the same vein, he recalled his October 13 meeting with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) workers and alleged that the contract was snatched from HAL and given to Anil Ambani’s firm on Modi’s insistence. The BJP has denied the charge.
Scindia attacked the BJP’s 15-year rule in the state, saying the time had come to throw away the ‘mukhota’ of the BJP which only believed in dishing out lies and false promises. “BJP rule has been one of corruption in every sphere and where the farmer has been oppressed and shot at when he asked for his rights,” he alleged, possibly referring to the killing of six protesting farmers in police firing in Mandsaur on June 6 last year.
BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “Road shows and public meetings won’t make a difference. BJP is all set to win this election.” Political analyst L S Hardenia said that if the Congress has to form a government in Madhya Pradesh, it would have to win the maximum number of seats from this region. “It is a both a challenge and an opportunity for the Congress party. The challenge for the Congress has increased because its talks for a pre-poll alliance with the BSP, which is influential in this region, have failed,” he said.