‘Only top 15 businessmen enjoying achhe din’

All-India Congress Committee president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said except about 15 businessmen, no one was enjoying achhe din under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Alleging that there was a lot discrimination under the Modi regime, Mr. Gandhi said the BJP’s parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been running the country from its headquarters in Nagpur.

In an interaction with a few journalists over breakfast, he said the people of South India and north-east India, minorities, Dalits, and entrepreneurs were being discriminated against. “When Nagpur runs the country, right by definition there has to be discrimination. Tell me who is happy other than the top 15 businessmen in India?” Mr .Gandhi said.

Referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s “million mutinies”, he said that today, there were a million mutinies in India. “He (Mr. Modi) has been unable to run the country and that’s why you are seeing Dalits up in arms, tribals up in arms... you are seeing farmers taking out rallies in Maharashtra,” the Congress president said.

Mr. Gandhi said the Opposition parties have united and would fight an ideological battle against the BJP government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “Mr. Modi will be defeated. We are already winning. You can see the Prime Minister is completely lost. What has happened in India now is that the Opposition’s unity is very strong. Mr. Modi has no chance to win in 2019.”

To a question on the Congress’ vision for the future, Mr. Gandhi said: “I think there are lessons for us from 2014. We also made mistakes. We have to accept that and understand that... of course, there were a lot of lies, a lot of false allegations, a lot of venom spread by the BJP and the RSS.”

He said the Congress would give a vision for India to move forward. “The party is preparing the vision based on how to create jobs, how to protect farmers, how to ensure education and provide healthcare at the lowest possible cost, and how to position India in the world. Then we have to do some work on transformation of the Congress, brining in younger people,” he said.