Rahul restarts Rafale sorties from Jharkhand
The Congress president says PM Modi has misled the people for the last five years
Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed the Parivartan Ulgulan rally at Ranchi’s Morhabadi ground on Saturday, his first rally in the state since November 2014. He said Prime Minister Modi, “snatched” Rs 30,000 crore from the IAF and HAL, and gave it to industrialist Anil Ambani in the Rafale deal.
Gandhi also said that a united opposition in Jharkhand would uproot the BJP government. Among opposition leaders, JVM (P) chief Babulal Marandi was present, but the top leaders of JMM and RJD gave the rally a miss.
RANCHI: Continuing with his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the Parivartan Ulgulan rally on Saturday said that the PM “snatched” Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Air Force (IAF), which protects the country, and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and gave it to industrialist Anil Ambani in the Rafale deal. Gandhi was addressing the rally at Ranchi’s Morhabadi ground.
Addressing his first rally in the state since November 2014, Gandhi said, “It is a matter of shame that the Indian Air Force protects the country, air force pilots sacrifice their lives, but the Prime Minister steals money from the air force and puts it in Anil Ambani’s pockets.”
“PM Modi snatched Rs. 30,000 crore of HAL and gave it to Anil Ambani. The French president said PM Modi made it clear to him that the contract of Rafale should go to Ambani.”
Gandhi has been targeting PM Modi over the Rs 58,000-crore Rafale deal with France that India signed in 2016 for purchase of 36 multi-role combat jets. A similar deal was being negotiated when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power before 2014, for the purchase of 126 Rafale jets. The Modi government renegotiated the deal with France. The opposition has been alleging that commercial favouritism was done in the Rafale deal.
Repeating his ‘chowkidar chor hai’ jibe at the PM, Gandhi said PM Modi’s image has changed from a leader who promised to bring “achhhe din” to “chowkidar chor hai”.
“One chowkidar has defamed all chowkidars of India... All the chowkidars of India are honest... Everyone knows that when someone says chowkidar chor hai, it refers to Narendra Modi,” the Congress president said.
Clubbing PM Modi along with Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, the Congress president took a jibe at the PM, asking the crowd why all thieves are named Modi.
Alleging that the PM has been
misleading people for five years on the issues of providing a corruption-free government, job creation and addressing farm distress, Gandhi said the only thing the Modi has done is practice ‘divisive politics’ and spread ‘hatred’ among communities, religion and regions.
Several leaders of the proposed Grand Alliance in the state—Stephen Marandi from JMM, Babulal Marandi from JVM (P) and Ram Chandra Singh from RJD shared the stage with Gandhi at the rally. The Congress president said that the united opposition would defeat the ‘chowkidar’ in upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections and in assembly elections in the state, scheduled to be held in November-December this year.
Responding to the charges, BJP said Rahul’s allegations are akin to a pot calling the kettle black.
“It was the Congress which installed an independent (Madhu Koda) as chief minister and looted Rs 4,000 crore of the state. People are well aware of the Congress’s designs and they are again trying to grab power by using tribal people as their pawns,” said Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shadeo.
Saturday’s rally was promoted heavily by the state Congress months in advance, with Jharkhand state unit in-charge RPN Singh hailing it to be the biggest public gathering in Jharkhand, earlier on Friday. Since Gandhi became the Congress president in December 2017, the party cadre have been demanding that he addressed them.
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It is a matter of shame that the Indian Air Force protects the country, air force pilots sacrifice their lives, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi steals money from the air force and puts it in Anil Ambani’s pockets. RAHUL GANDHI, Congress President