Modi's promises hollow, his regime for industrialists: Rahul

CORRESPONDENT & Agencies

gaon, March 5: Dubbing the NDA government a regime for "five/six business honchos", Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Prime Minister rendra Modi is good in marketing and delivering grand speeches, but his words often ring hollow.

"He (Modi) went to Bihar and made promises and assurances but did not fulfill them. He came to Assam also and made good speeches and lofty promises but those proved hollow," said Gandhi while addressing a public rally of some 50,000 people at Borghat in gaon district.

Ahead of the rally, he also took part in a road show walking five km from gaon College to Barghat Chariali with thousands of people in the district. Rahul, who stayed at gaon overnight, wound up his two-day visit to the State today.

He said the biggest achievement of the Congress government in Assam was its success in bringing back peace to the State in the last 15 years. "We are here to serve the people. However, the present government at the Centre has been trying to help only a few businessmen in the country," he said.

"They (the businessmen) get everything. Thousands of crores of rupees have come to the country's exchequer after recent decline in intertiol petrol prices. We (UPA government) used to buy petrol at $130 per barrel. Now they are buying at $35 per barrel. But the people of the country will not get even a single penny, as all the money will go to his (Prime Minister's) industrialist fiends," said Gandhi.

Accusing the BJP of closing down pro-poor schemes brought in by the then UPA government, Gandhi said the current government at the Centre was not the government of common people, the salaried class and the workers, but of industrialists.

"Wherever I go, I raise the issues of the poor and common people. But when we ask these questions, Modiji attacks us persolly," he said, obliquely referring to his recent accusations against the Modi government and the Prime Minister's rebuttal in the Lok Sabha the following day. "Modiji cannot answer my questions as he does not have the answers," he added.

Rahul Gandhi also targeted the Union Fince minister over his budget, saying: "Arun Jaitleyji has brought a 'Fair and Lovely' scheme through which all the thieves in the country can convert their black money into white."

"However, the people who work for their whole life and take salary and pension are made to pay tax on their PF (provident fund)," he added.

"I want to assure the salaried class that the Congress party will fight for you. I will pressurize the government as this government is not your government, this is not the government of farmers and employees but of industrialists only," Gandhi said.

Referring to recent incidents at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), he said there were about 8,000 students of which 1,000 were from the Northeast.

"The BJP put JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar behind bars by filing sedition case against him. I listened to his 20-minute speech and there was not a single word against the country."

"If some people shouted anti-Indian slogan in JNU, you punish them, put them behind bars. But why are you trying to spoil the future of 8,000 students? Why are you trying to spoil the careers of 1,000 students from the Northeast in JNU? We are going to fight for them," said the Congress vice president.