Congress remembers Shastri in Sonia's absence, targets Modi and RSS
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jan 12, 2017
Narendra Modi gracefully ignored the invite from Jairam Ramesh and also gave the Congress leader, a subtle piece of mind.
In a tongue-in-cheek speech delivered before thousands of party workers and officials at the Talkatora stadium, Rahul asserted that the Congress will defeat BJP's ideology and dislodge it from power in 2019. "Every single institution, the RBI, the judiciary, have been weakened by the BJP and the RSS", Rahul said.
Taking a dig at Modi's 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign line that "achhe din" will come when BJP comes to power, he said only Congress' return to power in 2019 will heard good days.
"Demonetisation is just an excuse, since PM Modi can no longer hide behind Skills India, Make in India and all his other schemes,"Rahul said".
His offensive came in the backdrop of the electoral process starting for Assembly polls in five states of UP, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, which are being seen as a virtual referendum on Mr Modi's demonetisation decision that has caused massive disruptions in the economy. First, a major function was organised in absence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and secondly Congress chose the death anniversary of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as the day to organise the function. "The rest of India was made to pay for this", he said.
For Congressmen, who had come from far and near at the bidding of the party, it was a pleasant surprise to see a Rahul Gandhi talking sense for most of his speech rather than the Congress leader who is nearly always made fun of and who is not able to give a coherent speech at the best of times. He not only criticized the demonetization decision of the PM but also said that BJP tries to threaten people and Media. "By forcing people to deposit their hard earned money in banks by announcing demonetisaiton, Modiji will, in the coming months, waive off the Rs 9-lakh-crore loans taken by the corporate from banks". And then turned his focus to the media which was also the target of his acerbic tongue. "They come to me and say they want to say something but can't". Never before has a Prime Minister taken such an incompetent and badly thought out decision.
