Choose between Mahatma’s India and Godse’s India: Rahul Gandhi Under pressure, Pawar withdraws from LS polls
NEWDELHI: Terming the upcoming Lok Sabha elections a contest between the Congress’ ideology of inclusivity and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology of fear and hatred, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday promised a minimum income guarantee scheme for all the poor in the country if the party is voted to power.
Addressing booth workers at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here, Gandhi ridiculed Modi for being a coward and said only the Congress can tackle the twin challenges of unemployment and the agrarian crisis.
“The choice is between India of Mahatma Gandhi and that of his assassin [Nathuram] Godse. The fight is between Modi and RSS’ ideology of fear and hatred on one side and the Congress’ ideology of love and inclusivity on the other.
“The Congress will form the government in the coming elections as it is the only party that can change India,” Gandhi said while urging the party workers to spread the Congress’ message among the masses.
Holding the Modi government responsible for two of the biggest challenges facing the country -- unemployment and agrarian distress, Gandhi said the Congress will ensure a minimum income for all the poor as soon as it comes to power.
“On the one hand you have Modi who waived loans worth ~3.5 lakh crore of a handful of industrialists, and on the other you have the Congress which will implement the minimum income guarantee scheme immediately after coming to power,” said Gandhi.
Explaining the scheme, he said the minimum income of the coun- try will be calculated which will act as the standard and those below that level will be given the shortfall.
“Nobody in the country will be below the minimum income level,” Gandhi claimed.
“No country in the world has ever tried such a scheme, but we will implement it. In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, we promised farm loan waiver and within two days of coming to power, we did that. Only the Congress can do it,” he PUNE: In a dramatic U-turn triggered by internal pressures and resentment at the grassroots, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he won’t contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Pawar not only announced that he won’t contest from the Madha Lok Sabha constituency as was planned earlier, but also paved the way for a ticket for Parth Pawar, his nephew, Ajit Pawar’s son.
P a war s a i d t h e r e was a demand by party leaders that Parth be given a ticket from the Maval Lok Sabha constituency.
Addressing an impromptu press conference after a party meet in Pune, the seniormost politician from Maharashtra said he was not only stepping back from his earlier decision of contesting Lok Sabha polls from Madha, but had also decided not to contest the polls at all.