‘Modi protecting cow vigilantes, not nation’

Rather than safeguarding India’s strategic interests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is dividing the country on communal lines and protecting gau rakshaks who are attacking Dalits, said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking at ‘Sarthaka Samavesha’, a public rally organised by his party here on Wednesday, Rahul said: “Our Prime Minister has no time to engage the Chinese on Doklam or solving the burning Kashmir issue or handling the farmers crisis.”

The BJP government has failed to stop an aggressive China, he further said. Its weak policy has led to the neighbour crossing the Indian and Bhutanese borders.

“Modi was not wise while giving special treatment to the Chinese Premier during his visit to India few years ago. When somebody brings home a ‘crook’ do you treat him this way? Do you sit on a swing and chat with him? The result was that over 1,000 Chinese soldiers have walked into Doklam and our friendly neighbour Bhutan,” he added.

During the 10-year UPA rule, the Congress was successful in handling Kashmir and bringing peace in the State, said Rahul. “All that has been destroyed by Modi within a month. We had succeeded in bringing peace back in Kashmir, ensured that there was brotherhood. The banks operating in that State got enough funds to boost the local economy,” he said.

“If there is peace in Kashmir, Pakistan will have less chance of interfering in the troubled State. We had narrowed this gap to the maximum extent. But what is happening how? The mayhem in the State under Modi's rule has given a good chance for Pakistan to interfere again in Kashmir and pump in funds to create more problems. Pakistan has benefited from Modi’s policy,” he added.

Rahul further said: “The faulty foreign policy of the BJP government has led to old time friends and neighbours distancing themselves from India and the glaring example is Russia agreeing to defence supplies for Pakistan. The same has happened in Sri Lanka and Nepal — those countries also faced problems due to the current government’s faulty external policy.”

The Centre’s policy of slashing allocations to government hospitals has led to the Gorakhpur tragedy, alleged Rahul. He said the oxygen being supplied to the hospital was reduced as the government had slashed budgetary allocations.

Rahul also slammed the Centre for not coming to the rescue of farmers in distress and claimed that his intense pressure on the BJP ruled governments in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra had forced them to announce farm loan waivers.

Earlier in the day, Rahul inaugurated the Karnataka government’s ‘Indira Canteens’ here, having the first breakfast at an outlet in the Jayanagar locality. Indira Canteens are aimed at the poor, he said, especially the migrants who come to Bengaluru with a dream to build something. “No person in Bengaluru should ever go hungry and the canteens are a great means towards it,” he said, asking the government to pay attention to cleanliness and taste.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Indira Canteens are a continuation of the Congress’s commitment to a hunger-free Karnataka.

“We started Anna Bhagya, giving 7 kg of rice for free to over 4 crore people, the very day we came to power. It is stemming a mass migration from our villages despite severe drought in the last three years. Indira Canteens is only a continuation of that programme,” he explained.

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