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In a speech laced with sarcasm, and ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of farmers’ issues, unemployment, and the condition of women, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign in Bidar district of Karnataka.
Rahul also attacked the BJP while launching the Congress’ ‘Jana Dwani Yatra’ with around two lakh party workers from different Assembly segments gathered at Bidar.
Taking a dig at job creation, especially for the youth, Rahul said Modi’s call to youth for setting up small businesses lacked a clear business model and impractical solutions were suggested to the country’s problems.
“Modi had promised the country jobs for 2 crore youth every year, which he did not fulfil. When you remind him of his promise, he asks the youth to set up pakoda stalls and meet their energy requirements by generating fuel from the sewage in the roadside drains,” he said.
On the Rafale deal, the Congress chief Gandhi reiterated his charges that said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had lied to the country. “Nirmala Sitharaman said India and France had a secret pact and so the government can’t reveal the price of Rafale aircraft. I asked the French President if this was true, and he denied it.”
Further ridiculing Modi’s much-publicised claims of being the ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) of the country’s wealth, the Congress chief said Modi was a stakeholder in blatant corruption that had taken place. Rahul said Modi was Prime Minister of country’s 15 richest industrialists alone.
Claiming that the Congress had walked the talk on its poll promises, Rahul said: “We in Karnataka promised to waive farm loans and we did it. We promised special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka and kept our word. If Modi really has a 56-inch chest, let him waive farm loans. Modi had enough money to waive corporate loans worth ₹2.5-lakh crore, but he doesn’t have money to waive farm loans.”
Making a mockery of popular slogan ‘Beti Bachao’ (save the girl child), Rahul said: “Every day, BJP leaders are accused of raping minor girls in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and no word about it comes from Modi, who often calls for saving girl child. Modi talks on everything under the sun in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’, but not on the country’s burning issues,” he added.
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