Not afraid of Modi, pressure of central agencies: Rahul
DEHRADUN: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he is not afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that the pressure by central agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), doesn’t work on him.
“He (PM) thinks that all are afraid of him. The PM thinks that he can scare everyone with ED and CBI. But I don’t fear him...Rather his arrogance makes me laugh,” Gandhi said while addressing a rally in Manglaur assembly constituency in Haridwar district.
“Yesterday in an interview, Modi ji said that ‘Rahul doesn’t listen’. It means he is saying that the pressure of ED and CBI doesn’t work on me...He meant to say that I never back off irrespective of the pressure he exerts on me through these central agencies,” the Congress leader said, referring to Modi’s interview to a private news agency telecast on Wednesday.
“But I want to say why should I listen? You (PM) don’t do your work. You promised 2 crore jobs each year, but instead of giving them, you snatched the existing jobs from the youth,” Gandhi said, stepping up his attack on Modi at the rally held ahead of the February 14 Uttarakhand assembly polls.
The Congress leader hit out at the PM over the demonetisation move and implementation of “wrong GST” in the country.
“PM destroyed the farmers, labourers, small and medium traders by bringing in demonetisation and wrong GST. He brought all of them onto roads. During demonetisation, the common man was forced to stand in long queues...But no millionaire was seen in that queue. He promised to end black money, but it was turned into white and given to BJP,” he said. “There is unemployment in whole country. Today India can’t provide jobs to its youth because the small traders and medium enterprises, which give maximum jobs, have been destroyed by Modi government. Today, if the youth of Uttarakhand go to any place of India, he won’t get jobs,” he said.
“The faulty policies of the Modi government have created two Indias today. One is of the handful of billionaires, luxury cars and five-star hotels. The other one is of the poor, farmers, labourers and jobless youth. The rich in India can get whatever they want...They only have to be billionaires. PM Modi has only spread hatred in the country,” Gandhi said, adding, “In Delhi, it’s not a PM but a king is sitting.”
The Congress leader lashed out at the Centre on the “mismanagement” of Covid-19 pandemic.
“When the leaders of other nations were warning their citizens of the dangerous virus, our PM asked the people to bang thalis and show flashlight of their mobile phones. When you were running desperately for oxygen cylinders and ventilators, the government was missing. This is the truth of PM Modi.”
Gandhi lashed out at the PM on the rising fuel prices as well as change of three chief ministers in the BJP-led state government in last five years. “The BJP gave chance to all the three CMs to loot the state,” he said.
BJP state media in charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said: “The Congress has been rejected by the people of the state and country as they know that it’s the synonym with corruption and misgovernance.
“The only party which has worked for actual development of the hill state is the BJP.”