'He may even shed tears on stage': Rahul Gandhi accuses PM Modi of diverting public attention from core issues

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of diverting public attention from real issues facing the people and claimed “the Prime Minister may even shed tears on the stage.” Rahul’s attack comes amid PM Modi’s relentless campaign against the Congress targeting the grand old party over charges of “redistribution of wealth” and “implementing of inheritance tax.”

At an election rally in Karnataka, Rahul said: “You have heard the Prime Minister’s speeches. He is scared. It’s possible that he may shed tears on stage.” “Modi tries to divert your attention. Sometimes he talks about China and Pakistan, and sometimes he will make you beat plates and ask you to switch on the torch light of your mobile phones,” he added.

In his recent election speeches, PM Modi has accused the Congress of having plans to carry out a wealth survey and then redistribute the assets of people to minorities, especially Muslims, if voted to power. The Prime Minister has linked Congress’s manifesto pitch of socio economic and caste survey with a 2006 remark of Manmohan Singh to corner the grand old party. The Congress has accused the Prime Minister of quoting words out of contest from the manifesto to mislead the people and spread lies.

Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Prime Minister is not saying anything on the core issues in India including poverty, unemployment and price rise.

“Modi has only snatched money from poor people. He has made some billionaires. There are 22 people who have wealth equivalent to the 70 crore people of the country. Just one per cent people are controlling 40 per cent of the wealth of the nation,” the former Congress chief alleged.

He claimed that in the present scheme of things, there is “no scope” for Dalits, OBCs, tribals, minorities and poor general category people.

“I will just tell you a clear thing in a simple one line. The wealth Modi has given to those billionaires, the same money we are going to give to the poor people of the country,” he added.

The Congress leader also promised the youth that his party will scrap the ‘Agniveer’ scheme if it is voted to power. He dubbed the ‘Agniveer’ scheme in the armed forces offering three years services to the youth from 18 years to 21 years as an insult to the Army and soldiers.

“Narendra Modi snatched the Army jobs from the youth of India. He brought the Agniveer scheme, which is an insult to the Indian Army and soldiers. We will scrap it,” Rahul said.

Rahul also charged PM Modi with imposing a faulty GST where he introduced five different types of tax, which are hefty. Alleging that the PM was doing injustice to Karnataka, he said the Congress will change the GST and rectify the injustice meted out to the people of the state.

Rahul also took a veiled swipe at PM Modi saying that this election is different from previous ones. “This election is not an ordinary election, it’s not like the previous elections because, for the first time in the history of India, a party and an individual are trying to abolish the constitution and democracy of India,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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