BALASINOR (GUJARAT) : The soft, watchful and hesitant Rahul Gandhi is fast metamorphosing into an aggressive fire spewing political leader as general elections 2014 move into a decisive phase.
Incidentally, it is this ancient home of the now extinct dinosaurs that witnessed this change as the Congress vice-president tore into the RSS, the BJP and its prime ministerial nominee on the latter’s home turf.
“The thief cannot be the watchman,” Gandhi asserted pointing to the lakhs of acres of fertile land which had been taken away from farmers and given to industrialists for a song. Stretching his analogy further, Rahul added –”And you call this ‘chowkidari’”.
Warming up to this theme, Rahul pointed out that the British, too, had sneaked into India as ‘chowkidars’ and the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel had to fight to stamp out the foreign rule.
Addressing a packed and overflowing public rally, Gandhi wanted to know what was so ‘shining’ in Gujarat that it had fixed a Below Poverty Line limit of Rs eleven per person per day? ”The only thing shining here are the mansions, limousines and the aircraft of 10 to 15 industrialists. How many of the young have got jobs? How many Nanos do you see on the roads,” he questioned.
Rahul Gandhi was unrelenting in his new found aggression as he tore into the RSS and the BJP with renewed vigour. ”Those who seek to appropriate Sardar Patel for themselves are the very people who showed black flags in protest when the Ahmedabad airport was sought to be named after the Sardar. It is good to build a statue in the memory of the great leader of the Congress but the BJP would do well to remember what he had to say about the RSS”, he added.
Gandhi reminded the audience that the Sardar had termed the RSS as a poisonous ideology which had the potential to destroy the soul of India. ”And those who have spent their entire life following this philosophy need to educate themselves a little about the Sardar and ancient Indian history. The Gita as well as other religious texts speak of carrying everyone together. But the proponents of hate talk of destroying the Congress built by Gandhi and Sardar. ”They lack ideology, only have anger and this manifests itself in divisiveness and perpetuation of hatred. We believe in empowerment and giving more strength and rights into the hands of the people,” he added.
The Congress vice-president also took on the Gujarat chief minister on his claims of development in Gujarat. ’’They talk of the Gujarat model of development. I remember seeing the hoardings of Amul as a seven year old. It was created by lakhs of common Gujaratis, particularly their womenfolk. And I hear people saying that what the Congress took 60 years to achieve will be accomplished by them in 60 months. One person is seeking to usurp the work of lakhs of ordinary people, and spending your money to market himself,” said Gandhi.
Rahul also lashed out at the BJP which was seeking to masquerade as a crusader against corruption, pointing out that three Gujarat ministers of the present government have proven charges of corruption against them and yet they remain in the saddle. ‘‘A chief minister has been to jail and is joyfully brought back into the party. We have brought the Lokpal bill while in Gujarat the appointment of the lokayukta was stalled for almost a decade. The Congress believes in empowering the people and will continue to do so,” he added.
RK MISRA
