Sonipat | BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday said there was no comparison between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with one remembering the poor at the time of polls, while the other working non-stop to bring a change in their lives.
He said people have rejected politics of dynasty and corruption which prevailed earlier.
Choosing Sonipat to address his first poll rally in Haryana for the Lok Sabha election, Shah launched a scathing attack on Gandhi on various issues, and also criticised the previous governments of Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Om Prakash Chautala. He also took a swipe at former chief minister Bhajan Lal, whose grandson Bhavya Bishnoi is contesting from Hisar.
From Sonipat, former Haryana chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda is contesting and is pitted among others against BJP’s sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik and JJP’s Digvijay Chautala, grandson of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
Attacking Gandhi, Shah said the Congress chief remembers the poor when polls are round the corner.
He said the Congress leader was fourth generation leader of the Nehru-Gandhi family and despite being in power for decades, they had failed to eliminate poverty.
Asserting that there was no comparison between Gandhi and Modi, he said, “When mercury soars in the country during summers, Rahul Baba goes for foreign vacations. He is young and a bachelor, we have no objection to his vacations, but he goes to undisclosed locations and even his mother keeps searching for him.”
“As against him here is a leader (Modi) who has worked for the past 20 years (including when he was a Gujarat CM) without taking a day off,” Shah said, adding that the PM has been working tirelessly for upliftment of poor, Dalits and weaker sections. Shah said Modi’s image was clean and nobody has been able to point a finger at him.
He also touched upon the issue of nationalism, saying the Modi government has shown only it was capable to give a befitting reply to Pakistan for its misadventures.
Without taking any name, he said, “Congress ke neta, mein aap ko poochna chhata hoon (Congress’ leader, I want to ask you)”
“Proofs have been found about you having flats in foreign countries and of being a director in foreign companies, besides there are charges on you of holding a foreign citizenship, bank accounts of many leaders abroad have been found,” he alleged.
“He is seeking account from us. We have been in power for five years, but for 55 years you ruled this country, people are seeking your account. We don’t need to give any account to them, we are answerable to people,” Shah said.
“If comparison is made between their 55 years of rule against our five years, scales will tilt in our favour,” he said. “Rahul Baba, apka toh number lagne wala hai nahin (you are not going to get a chance),” Shah said.
He said people have rejected the politics of caste, dynasty, corruption, where middlemen and builders used to be given benefits. “During Congress’ time 3-Ds were prevalent, ‘damaad, darbari and dealer’, corruption flourished around these 3-Ds,” Shah alleged.
With former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda contesting from this Jat-dominated constituency, his son Deepender from Rohtak, Digvijay Chautala from here, he accused the Congress and the Chautalas of promoting dynastic politics.
Shah also made a reference to the Chautala family feud. “I want to ask people of Sonipat, can dynastic families benefit Haryana…is no other person able,” he said.
The BJP cheif took a swipe at Hooda, against whom many cases have been slapped during the present BJP regime and on former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, who is serving a jail term in a teachers’ recruitment scam in Haryana, saying “one is on bail, the other one is in jail”.
Shah alleged that for years power was concentrated between the Hoodas and the Chautalas in Haryana and further claimed while corruption increased during the former’s time ‘gooindaism’ (hooliganism) was prevalent when the latter ruled.
“We gave a leader in Manohar Lal Khattar, who has a clean image. Under his regime, there is no hooliganism, no corruption and Haryana has made an all-round progress,” he said, highlighting various developmental initiatives of Modi and Khattar governments.
He exuded confidence that the BJP would win all the 10 seats in Haryana, where general elections will be held in the sixth phase on May 12.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
