Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders who frequently question what Congress did for the country during its prolonged rule after Independence, All India Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge said if Congress had not opened schools and colleges, Modi would not have got educated and become the Prime Minister.
“You [the BJP leaders often ask what Congress did for the country. Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru fought the British and gave us Independence. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar gave us the Constitution. When the British left India, the country was in a pathetic condition. It was the Congress that built the new India. It was Congress that opened schools and colleges to make people literate. It was Congress that built dams to provide irrigation facilities to farmers. Modi got educated in the same school that Congress had opened and became the Prime Minister,” Mr. Kharge said.
He was addressing an election rally at Wadi in Chittapur constituency where his son and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Priyank Kharge was contesting as Congress candidate.
Ridiculing Mr. Modi for his anti-corruption rhetorics, Mr. Kharge said that the Prime Minister speaks volumes against corruption when the most corrupt people in his party were sharing dais.
“You [Mr. Modi] often claims that neither you become corrupt nor do you allow others to become corrupt. The irony is that you say such things when the most corrupt people in your party are sitting beside you. In Karnataka, corruption is ruling the roost under BJP rule. Contractors alleged that the BJP government forced them to pay 40% commission in government works. Religious Mutts alleged that the BJP government demanded a 30% commission in the grants given to them. There were big scams like PSI recruitment scam in the BJP government. Yet, Mr. Modi claims that he would give corruption-free governance. If Mr. Modi doesn’t open his mouth about these allegations and scams, we will have to consider that he too is involved in the corruption,” Mr. Kharge said.
Pointing to the rising unemployement and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities under the BJP rule, Mr. Kharge alleged that the BJP government was working for big corporators and industrialists to impoversih vast majority of working masses.
“BJP had promised that it would double the farmers’ income. Is it done? It had promised to safeguard the interests of workers. But it gave the workers savings in Provident Fund to Adani Group. If we question such misdeeds, BJP leaders get angry and unleash counter attack. But, I continue to tell the truth, no matter what they do,” Mr. Kharge said.
Mr. Kharge, who was touring the State campaignng for Congress candidates, said that there was a pro-Congress wave in the State.
“I have visited around 60 constituencies in the State and I found a pro-Congress wave in all of them. I came here to seek your votes for Congress candidate Priyank Kharge, just as I am doing it for all the Congress candidates. I don’t ask you to vote for Priyank since he is my son. You should vote for him if he has done development work in the constituency. It is because of your blessings that I am elected as AICC president by 10,000 voters. I have not done anything that would discredit you. I have worked in such a way that my work raised the respect and honour of Kalaburagi and Kalyana Karnataka,” Mr. Kharge said.
Former legislator Vishwanath Patil Hebbal, AICC secretary D. Sridhar Babu, legislator Priyank Kharge, District Congress Committee president Jagadev Guttedar and other senior party leaders were present.
