Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi with party leaders Randeep Surjewala and Motilal Vora at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Monday. (Photo: PTI)
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi with party leaders Randeep Surjewala and Motilal Vora at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Monday. (Photo: PTI)
Linking the Rohith Vemula and Kanhaiya Kumar issues with the rights of the marginalised, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of “crushing” the weak and the poor who demand their rights.
He also said Union ministers and BJP leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him, but they should not “crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak”.
“Tribals from Bastar met me today. They said they are facing atrocities in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar and that they are being threatened and crushed. The country will not benefit by beating and threatening people. You pressured Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, here you are pressuring Kanhaiya and our students,” Mr Gandhi told reporters here.
He alleged that wherever the poor are seeking their rights, “be it a farmer, dalit, tribal or small trader — small traders came to me — wherever a weak person is raising a voice, the NDA government, the Modi government is trying to crush it.” These people are the strength of India and no one will benefit by crushing them, he said. “If you have to take action, do it. Those who break the law, take action. But crushing, threatening and beating the poor won’t help the country,” Mr Gandhi said.
In an apparent reference to Mr Modi’s remarks in the Lok Sabha that “some people age but do not mature”, Mr Gandhi said the PM and his Cabinet colleagues are free to attack him. “Modi attacked me personally. His party colleagues are attacking me personally on a daily basis,” he said.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley recently took a dig at the Congress vice-president over his Lok Sabha speech and said “the more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know — when will he know”.
“As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity,” Mr Jaitley had said in a Facebook post, reacting to Mr Gandhi’s remarks that Prime Minister Modi does not consult his senior ministers on policy issues.
“Do as much personal attacks as you want. But don’t crush the poor, the weak for whom I speak. Hit me as much you want. Attack me as much you want. Speak for as long as you want to, but don’t hit the poor people of the country,” Mr Gandhi stressed.
Seeking to take the sting out of the PM’s attack, the Congress said “theatrics” in Parliament might be good entertainment for his supporters, but reminded him that “it is his job to deliver”. In a scathing commentary where the Congress asks ‘How much does he hear When will he hear ’, an apparent retort to Mr Jaitley’s Facebook post ‘How much does he know — when will he know’ targeting Mr Gandhi, the Opposition party alleged that Mr Modi ignored the voices of farmers, dalits and students, and even his own ministers.
