Aurangabad (Bihar), February 15: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi today announced that besides holding the caste census, their government will also carry out a financial survey to find out the actual status of the country”s wealth and the people controlling it.
Mr Gandhi, along with the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, addressed a mammoth rally attended by a huge number of people in the Gandhi Maidan here today.
Reacting to the presence of such a huge crowd, Mr Kharge said, he was sure and confident that Congress will definitely win from here.
He warned people that this was going to be the last election to save the constitution and democracy in the country. He said, if Modi was reelected, he will never hold elections again and the constitution and the democracy will be finished forever. He said, Modi was ruling like a dictator and he will never give up power if he is elected once again and it will be the end of democracy in the country.
Mr Kharge took a dig at the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Referring to his leaving the INDIA bloc and rejoining hands with the BJP, the Congress president recalled that Kumar once said, he would prefer to die than align with the BJP again. And eventually he had again joined the hands with the BJP out of some fear.
“Earlier it used to be aaya Ram, gaya Ram, now it is aaya Kumar, gaya Kumar”, he remarked about Bihar Chief Minister frequent somersaults, switching political sides so fast and so frequently.
The Congress president pointed out, Prime Minister Modi had promised a package of Rs 1.15 lakh crores for Bihar, which he never gave. In strong contrast, he said, the UPA government at the centre during its ten years tenure had given Rs two lakh crores to Bihar.
Promising the financial survey, Rahul Gandhi announced that once the government is formed at the centre, it will carry out a financial survey along with the caste census across the country. He said, while the caste census will determine the actual overall status of each and every caste, the financial survey will reveal who was controlling the country’s wealth and resources.
Mr Gandhi said that India was rich in wealth and resources, but only a select few billionaires were controlling this wealth. He said, while an overwhelming majority of people, about 99 percent of Indians, was on the one side, the other side of one percent, consisting of a select few billionaires and a select few bureaucrats, were in control of all these resources.
Pointing out how less Modi cared for the poor and how much he cared for the rich, Gandhi said, while the annual budget for MGNREGA was just Rs 70,000 crore, the Modi government had written off debts worth 14 lakh crores of big billionaires.
Mr Gandhi pointed out, country’s farmers were demanding legal guarantee for the MSP and waiving off their loans. But, he added, the government was not prepared to meet them. He pointed out how brute force was being used to prevent them from marching towards Delhi.
He reiterated his promise that once the government is formed, it will provide legal guarantee for the MSP, which he announced during a rally in Chhattisgarh a few days ago.
Asserting that Prime Minister Modi was only working for the select elite, he pointed out, during the Ram Temple inauguration at Ayodhya, it was only the rich and famous people like Adani, Ambani and Amitabh Bachan, but no common man and everything he did was to divert people’s attention from real issues.
Suggesting that the media also helped Modi in diverting public attention, Mr Gandhi pointed out, the media never highlighted the pressing issues like the unemployment, backbreaking and skyrocketing prices and farmers’ plight but they would show what was happening in Pakistan and China and show film and cricket stars. This, he said, was because Modi had established complete control over the media through his billionaire friends.
Mr Gandhi said, he has eventually established direct rapport with the people through his Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. He said he has met lakhs of people across the country and learnt about the issues they faced by talking to them face to face.