Reiterating employment generation and farmers’ welfare as the Congress’ key priorities while giving a slogan of ‘Made in Ludhiana’, the party’s national president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday reached out to the people in Ludhiana with the promise to put all the party’s strength into reviving small and medium businesses.
“India cannot challenge China without ‘Made in Ludhiana’, which has to be an integral part of ‘Make in India’. Without reviving small and medium businesses, even employment generation could not be successful,” said Rahul, while addressing a party rally in Ludhiana in the support of party’s candidate and sitting local MP Ravneet Singh Bittu.
He said that demonetisation was aimed not at eliminating black money but at destroying the small and medium industries in Ludhiana and other such places.
Listing out NYAY, separate farmers’ budget, and promise of employment for youth as major planks of the Congress manifesto, Rahul said that the Modi Government had not only failed the people on all counts but had stolen money from the people to fill the pockets of a handful of rich industrialists, helping many of them to flee the country instead of throwing them in prison for defaulting on loans worth crores of rupees.
Questioning what had happened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of ‘achche din’, the Congress president said that after five years, Modi was not talking of any subject on which he had come to power, including jobs, Rs 15 lakh in individual bank accounts, doubling of farm income and corruption.
“From making fun of Dr Manmohan Singh and his progressive economic policies, Modi had ended up becoming the butt of India’s joke in five years, having cheated the nation with his brazen lies and open deception. Modi had ruined the nation’s economy, which NYAY would revive,” said Rahul, adding that like diesel in a tractor, the scheme will work as fuel to jumpstart economy.
Countering Modi’s claim that there was no money to fund NYAY, Rahul said that the Congress would get the money back from thieves like Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, Chowksi etc.
Addressing another rally along with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in the support of Congress candidate from Faridkot Mohd Sadique, Rahul lambasted the Modi for insulting Punjab, and the rest of India, by claiming that no development was done in 70 years and the nation was sleeping till he came to power.
“Where were you when the Punjab farmers were driving the Green Revolution?” he asked Modi, lashing out at the prime minister for believing that he alone could run the country. It is the people of India who are running the country with their blood and sweat, he declared, asserting that the Congress believed in taking every Indian, irrespective of cast, region, community, along for the development of the nation.
MODI IS SCARED TO DEBATE WITH ME: RAGA
Taking on Modi in the Rafale deal and his failure to accept the challenge for a debate on this and other issues such as the financial madness called demonetisation, Rahul said that the Prime Minister was scared to do that as he would not be able to show his face to the people of India after just 15 minutes of debating.
“Modi’s fear is showing in his pre-written media interviews with prepared answers to planned questions,” said Rahul, ridiculing the prime minister over his Rs personal’ interview, in which he spoke only of irrelevant things like how he eats mangoes and how he fits his clothes into the suitcase.
