Killi Chahlan, Moga, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘failure on all counts’ and challenged him to a 15-minute debate on critical issues such as Rafale and farm loan waiver.
Addressing a rally here, the Congress chief declared that farm loans were being waived in all the Congress-ruled states, in contrast to the Modi government, which had failed to come to the rescue of the distressed farmers. “If Modi can waive off loans of big industrial houses, why can not the loans of farmers be waived off,” he asked.
Lambasting the Prime Minister for tweaking the Rafale deal conditions to favour Ambani, Rahul said that Modi had played a cruel joke on the farmers by giving them Rs 3.50 a day while giving industrialists crores of rupees as a gift and added that the Congress, on coming to power at the Centre, would ensure a minimum guarantee scheme for all.
“This chowkidar is clearly a chor (this guard is clearly a thief)”, said Rahul, pointing to the Rs 30000 crore benefit given to Ambani and the missing Rafale files, which would have shown that the arrival of the jets was delayed because of the parallel negotiations by the Modi government. The delay was costing the Indian Air Force (IAF) heavily, whose pilots’ lives had been endangered by Mr Modi, he said.
The Congress chief also came down heavily on Modi for failing to deposit the Rs 15 lakh he had promised during the last elections to be given to each family. He lashed out at the Prime Minister for cutting a deal with the Badals just before the Punjab Assembly elections in 2017 and the destruction of the informal sector with the reckless demonetisation decision.
Accusing Mr Modi of spreading hatred in the country, Rahul said the next election would be an ideological fight and Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s philosophy of love and mutual respect would win. “We will celebrate 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji in a befitting manner,” he added.
The AICC chief castigated the central government for not refunding Rs 31000 crore of Punjab to the state and the ill-conceived GST. He questioned Union Minister Arun Jaitley for allowing Vijay Mallya to leave the country and demanded investigation against him.
Jaitley had all the enforcement agencies at his disposal, Rahul pointed out, adding that the ED and the DRI were working under the control of the Prime Minister and he should direct them to catch the big fish of the drugs mafia and those who ruined Punjab.
He, however, lauded Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for breaking the back of the drugs mafia and said it was a matter of great satisfaction that youth were once again looking towards the future with hope.