Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party’s focus on religious symbolism, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that while the BJP spoke of “Hindu Rashtra”, nearly 80% of the population has not benefited from its rule.
Addressing the public in Korba, Chhattisgarh during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Mr. Gandhi said the marginalised and backward classes who formed 74% of the population as well as the poor from the general castes who accounted for another 4 to 5% were being denied opportunities under the current regime. The former Congress president questioned the absence of these groups at the recent temple inauguration ceremony in Ayodhya, contrasting it with the presence of the rich and the influential.
“BJP talks about Hindu Rashtra. Seventy-four per cent are not getting anything, poor from the general castes are not getting anything. You tell me, at the Ram Mandir inauguration, did you see any poor, even one?”
“I saw Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Adani, Ambani. I could not see even one poor person, one farmer, one labourer, one unemployed” he continued.
Dire straits
Addressing a sizeable gathering, he said that this mix of the backward and poor was being denied opportunities in the private sector, universities and hospitals. They have been left to starve; they have conceded defeat.
“I fail to understand what you are doing. You have fallen asleep. You have accepted your fate, conceded defeat and are chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ round the clock. All that is fine, but money is being taken from your pockets every day, you are starving,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi said people were there only to bang “thalis” (a steel plate), and ring “ghanta” (bell).
In the mineral rich district of Korba, Mr. Gandhi said the government did not own Coal India, the people did. He said that the government was strangling the firm to render it economically unviable and allow conglomerates such as the Adani group to take over. Calling a coal worker to his vehicle, Mr. Gandhi said miners like him would be given VRS. Earlier, he called an ex-army jawan to his vehicle and spoke about the flaws in the Agniveer scheme.
At a press conference held after Mr. Gandhi’s road show, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asserted the strength of the opposition’s INDIA alliance. He said that despite the JD(U) and RLD’s departure, the group was intact. Discussions were on with parties such as AAP, DMK, NCP, Shiv Sena, and Trinamul Congress over seat sharing in the Lok Sabha elections.
