Modi Govt Working For Welfare Of Billionaires: Rahul Gandhi

On Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Centre’s Narendra Modi government of only working for the welfare of 2-3 billionaires in the country; he stressed that a Congress government at the Centre and in states will work for the welfare of the poor and the common people.

Rahul Gandhi was addressing a convention of the Rajiv Yuva Mitan Club in Chhattisgarh, where elections are fast approaching. Rajiv Yuva Mitan is a scheme of the Chhattisgarh sports and youth welfare department. He said additionally that the country cannot progress while being saddled with hatred and violence. By taking along everyone with love, it will march ahead, he added.

The MP from Wayanad said that the BJP labels tribal communities ‘vanvasi’ instead of ‘adivasi’ because it does not want that they should step out of the forest and fulfill their dreams in other sectors.

In a reference to newspaper articles which have been published recently about millionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, Gandhi said one article published in a leading financial newspaper claimed that Adani is close to PM Narendra Modi and that he has sent several thousand crores of money to other countries and then used that money to hike share prices of his own company in the stock market.

“The PM should tell the people of Chhattisgarh and the country why he doesn’t want a probe against Adani. Whose money is this? I want to make it clear why he does not want a probe as it will cause harm to someone else, not Adani,” Gandhi added.

He also alleged that the BJP and PM Modi is working only to benefit 2-3 billionaires.

“Our government will be the government of the poor and not the government of Adani, be it in (the Congress-ruled) Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh or upcoming governments of our party in Telangana and Madhya Pradesh,” said the former Congress president, while expressing confidence that the Congress party will win in poll-bound states.

Hitting out further at the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said that the opposition party spreads hatred and violence and asserted that the Congress’ work is to open a shop of love (‘mohabbat ki dukan’) in a market of hate (‘nafrat ka bazaar’).

Gandhi added that the Congress government introduced PESA (Panchayats Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act) for the adivasis of the state of Chhattisgarh and ensured protection for their land.

He said the BJP doesn’t consider the tribals as the “owners of Hindustan”. “Adivasis are the first owners of the land, water and forests and have first rights over them. They are the original owners of Hindustan. However, the BJP has coined a new term ‘vanvasi’, which has a different meaning. Their thinking is that you (tribals) are not the owners of Hindustan.”

Gandhi claimed the Congress wants tribal youth to become doctors, engineers, businessmen, judges and lawyers. However, he said, “The BJP wants tribals to remain in the jungles. We want tribals to get their rights but also fulfil their dreams. In the entire country, they (BJP) are spreading hatred and making one religion fight with another, one caste with another and one language with another.”

Rahul Gandhi urged Congress workers to shoulder the responsibility to spread love wherever the BJP spreads hatred. He added that the Bharat Jodo Yatra had the same objective — to spread love and unite people.

“Youths should not lag behind because the future belongs to them. I want to tell youths in this state to come forward to take on responsibilities to run the state and join politics. We have constituted Rajiv Yuva Mitaan Clubs in the state and associated three lakh members with it with an aim to encourage youths,” Gandhi asserted.