Rahul hits out at Govt on Rafale deal, resolve to dislodge it
NEW DELHI: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took on the Narendra Modiled BJP government at a meet of the united opposition here, hitting out at the dispensation on the contentious Rafale deal and resolved to dislodge it.
He claimed while his party viewed the country as pure as Ganga river, where people amalgamate with each other, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) viewed it from the prism of `sone ki chidiya' (golden bird) to make money out of it and favour their friends and crony capitalists.
“Today while they are busy in making that cage, we will try to stop them from making it,” he said. He was speaking at the sixth edition of the `Sanjhi Virasat Bachao Sammelan' (Save composite culture convention), a platform of more than 15 opposition parties.
The event on Thursday was attended by leaders from major opposition parties including Congress President Rahul Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh; Sharad Yadav (LJD); Sitaram Yechury (CPIM); Dharmendra Yadav (SP); Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav (RJD); Danish Ali (JD-U); Farooq Abdullah (NC); Chandan Mitra (AITC); Babu Lal Marandi (JVM); T. Siva (DMK); Jayant Chaudhary (RLD); S. Sudhakar Reddy(cpi); Tariq Anwar (NCP); Sanjeev Kumar (JMM); Ashok Gehlot, Ahmed Patel, Ajay Maken, PC Chako (all from Congress party) participating in `Saanjhi Virasat Bachao Sammelan' at Talkatora Stadium New Delhi.
The forum was being piloted by estranged JDU
leader Sharad Yadav to put up a united fight against the BJPruled government. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also attended the event.
“For us where rain takes place, it becomes a river and everyone gets associated with it. For them (BJP) it is a sone ki chidiya,” he said.
Gandhi said they did not want a “BJP mukt Bharat” nor did they want to destroy the BJP but they wanted to tell them that “our ideology is stronger and we will defeat their ideology”. “In the end, we will together remove the BJP from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and then from the rest of the country,” Gandhi said.
The Congress chief, who has been quite vocal about the Rafale deal, targeted the government at the meet, alleging that jets worth Rs 524 crore were purchased at an inflated rate of Rs 1,600 crore.
Gandhi said he met the French president here during his visit, the president said there was no secrecy which binds the government from disclosing the prices of the jets to the people of the country.
He said when he raised this issue in Parliament during the no trust vote, the prime minister remained silent but spoke at
length on “useless” issues. Gandhi alleged during the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort yesterday he observed the PM point out to teachers after completing a sentence who would then ask the children to cheer and clap for the him. “This was a show, a drama,” he alleged.
He said while the government was busy benefiting “friends and industrialists”, it had least regard for the farmers.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the aim of the Sanjhi Virasat Bachao Sammelan was to save the democracy. The Bjp-led government, he alleged, was misusing governance and had ruined the
life of the common man with demonetisation and then with the implementation of the GST.
Referring to the prime minister's Independence Day speech, he accused Modi of misleading the nation by announcing that the country would send a manned mission to space by 2022. Yechury reminded of Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go to space in 1984. He also criticised the Modi for “failing” to speak against incidents of mob
lynching and lamented that the accused in rape of minors are still at large. He accused the government of systematically muzzling the freedom of expression and imposing its ideology on educational institutes and other bodies. JD(S) spokesperson Danish Ali alleged the BJP government was misleading the nation on issues and there was an attempt to disturb the communal harmony in the country.
Former J&K CM Farooq Abdullah attacked at the government saying, they would not tolerate any religious discrimination in the country. Vellore Institute of Technology has handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan as part of its contribution towards relief work in the flooded affected state. Dr G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor, handed over the cheque on behalf of VIT to Vijayan at the Secretariat. Sankar Viswanathan and GV Selvam, vice presidents of VIT were also present. The Rs 1 crore relief fund has been given on behalf of the administration of VIT, its professors, staff and students