An unusually aggressive Rahul Gandhi on Monday lambasted the Prime Minister for various “failures” in Gujarat and declared that his Congress would work to defeat the BJP and Narendra Modi across India.

Addressing a well-attended rally in tribal-dominated Dediapada area of Narmada district in central Gujarat, the Congress Vice-President said his party would not indulge in “mann ki baat”, a reference to Prime Minister Modi’s monthly radio address to the nation. “If we win, we will go to every doorstep to understand what the people want the government to do. Our marketing may not be good, but we will ensure good work for the welfare of all people.”

Referring to the demonetisation issue, he said it demonstrated the PM’s power in making the people fall in line. “He wanted everybody else to listen to him and make them stand in queues across India.”

‘Oligarchy in Gujarat’



Earlier, senior party leader Shankersinh Vaghela had claimed that the Congress would win at least 108 seats in elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly. State polls are due later this year.

Rahul alleged that Gujarat was now being controlled by 10-15 people who corner all the benefits of power. “Even the Patidars, who earlier supported Modi, told me that their children could not get good education because these 10-15 people — all Modi’s friends — controlled this sector. No one has benefited from Vibrant Gujarat either, except 10-15 industrialists.”

Land for tribals



The Congress leader referred to his 2011 experience at Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh, where he said the Congress ensured that farmers got their land back from industrialists. “The NDA government tried to scrap the law that ensured this provision of the Land Acquisition Act. In Gujarat, however, thousands of acres were gifted to industrialists.” Wherever the Congress was in power, it gave land ownership to tribals, while Modi gave it to industrialists, the Congress leader claimed.

Gandhi told tribals that it was they who owned the land, forest and water, not just 10-15 people. He credited Gujarat’s farmers, including women, for the White Revolution. “Amul replaced the once-powerful Polson monopoly on milk products due to the hard work of Gujarati people.”

He also cited Modi’s speech in Parliament, where he had ridiculed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a brainchild of the previous Congress-led UPA government. “Before he became the PM, Modi had promised to create two crore jobs per annum. But, less than one lakh jobs were created last year.”

Senior central Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Madhusudan Mistry, State Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki, and party leaders Tushar Chaudhary, Shaktisinh Gohil, Arjun Modhvadia and Siddharth Patel were present on the occasion.