Modi prisoner of his own image, says Rahul
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday of being a “prisoner of his own image”, blaming him for the cash crunch, mounting military fatalities in militant attacks, and the Kashmir unrest.
His unbridled offensive against Modi came at the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meet, which he addressed for the first time in the absence of party president Sonia Gandhi, who is unwell.
“The Prime Minister often asks what the Congress did in the last 60 years. I would like to tell the Prime Minister what the Congress didn’t do in 67 years,” said the 46-year-old Gandhi, tipped to take over the party mantle after his mother. “We never gave India a Prime Minister who was ready to inflict such tremendous suffering on the people of India to protect his own persona. We never gave India a Prime Minister who based his entire policy making strategy on TRPs.”
He told Congress parliamentarians that the country has suffered because of Modi’s “vanity and incompetence”.
His broadside was aimed at the BJP-led government’s surprise move to withdraw 500- and 1,000rupee notes, which constituted 86% of the cash in circulation.
“For reasons known only to the Prime Minister, he confused India’s entire cash economy with black economy. He decided to experiment with the financial future of 1.3 billion people. Instead of attacking black money, he attacked the very foundations of our economy,” Gandhi said.
The party will hold a series of press conferences across the country, starting Friday from Lucknow, against the demonetisation drive.
Also, Gandhi blamed the Prime Minister for mounting soldier deaths in militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, especially along the border with Pakistan. “Eighty five soldiers have been martyred, the highest number of men we have lost in almost a decade,” he said.
He said the government should develop a coherent strategy to counter Pakistan and ensure peace in Kashmir.
“The PM will be judged by history as a man who gifted massive political space to anti-India forces by creating an opportunistic BJP-PDP political alliance.”