VALSAD (Gujarat): Congress President Sonia Gandhi today took on Narendra Modi on his home turf of Gujarat, saying the state was nowhere near “swarg” (heaven) as claimed by him, and accused the BJP’s Prime Ministerial hopeful of being concerned only about his chair.
Addressing her first election rally in Gujarat, which goes to polls on April 30, she tore into Modi’s much-touted Gujarat “development model” and appealed to the people to reject the “divisive” the ideology of RSS-BJP as it was “bad” for the country.
“The BJP leader claims if he comes to power, he will transform the country into `swarg’ (heaven). But he does not tell you the truth about difficulties which you might be facing in your day-to-day life,” Gandhi said, targeting Modi without mentioning his name.
“The debt of Gujarat Government stands at 1.75 lakh crore, many villages do not get drinking water, every second child below the age of five is malnourished here and school dropout ratio is highest in Gujarat,” the UPA Chairperson said.
“Most surprising thing is those who earn more than Rs 11 a day are not considered poor by the Gujarat Government.
Now you tell is this `swarg’ (heaven) or something else?” she asked the people at the well-attended gathering.
“He is just interested in his chair. They are not interested in welfare of the poor people.”
Gandhi also targeted BJP and Modi on corruption and raked up the issue of non-appointment of Lokayukta for 10 years in Gujarat.
“BJP has broken all boundaries of corruption. They are levelling baseless corruption allegations against Congress but it is we who brought a law like RTI. We have also taken strict action against those who were found guilty of indulging in corruption,” the Congress chief said.
“Has the BJP Government taken such steps – no they have not. Why was Lokayukta appointed in Gujarat after 10 years? Was the appointment delayed to cover up corruption,” she asked. . Gandhi said elections 2014 is a fight between two ideologies.
“The country cannot be built in one day. It needs vision, right thinking, determination. Congress possesses these qualities and has made India what it is today.
“Congress of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and other great leaders has many achievements to its credit. We believe in total democracy, we take everyone along, we treat everyone as equal. However, BJP has a different ideology,” Gandhi said.
“It dances to the tune of an organisation which does not believe in ‘Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb’ (composite culture)…, and creates discrimination in the society through hate mongering, narrow-mindedness and hardline thinking,” she said, apparently referring to the RSS.
“Such an ideology is harmful to the country’s traditions and ideals which we have nurtured for centuries. It wants to impose cruelty in the name of unity,” she said and asked voters to reject such an ideology. –PTI
