By Devika Bedi
Congress Vice President and potential President, Rahul Gandhi is seen making a strong rhetoric of opposition in Gujarat. On his three-day visit to Amethi on October 4, 2017, the Gandhi scion made several references to the Prime Minister for wasting time when he should be busy solving issues like agricultural distress in the state and unemployment in the youth.
Playing the blame game
He went on to attend a chaupal, which is an informal gathering in Kathura village, to discuss matters of unemployment, agriculture and failed promises made by the BJP government. Rahul was prepared with a list of 12 development projects that he claimed were started by the previous UPA government. His visit had more than a few incidences of discussions within the party leaders, interactions with farmer communities and criticised Modis failed attempts to satisfy the people.
Gandhi took a dig at policies of demonetisation and GST that have “rendered lakhs of being jobless”. He asserted that in the past 22 years, BJP has failed to address the real issues in the state and has not done anything for peoples betterment. He questioned the sudden increase in the turnover amount in Amit Shahs son- Jay Shahs firm. “They snatched your land without your consent and without giving proper compensation to you. These lands are with the handful of industrialists who run this government,” said Rahul.
Amethi’s the new favourite
Gujarat is facing heavy political campaigning with PM Modi being there two days ago and Rahul re-approaching the people in central Gujarat right after he left. Congress leader finds it opportunistic to heavily campaign in Gujarat after their recent morale boost when Ahmed Patel of Congress won the Rajya Sabha elections. Amethi District Congress Committee (DCC) president Yogendra Mishra said, Yes, BJP leaders do come to Amethi for a picnic. We are not aware of what they will be doing in Amethi. We will, however, take the Congress vice-presidents message to the people. The Amethi Congress has already launched a programme to reach out to a village every day and take his message to the people. We have covered about 200 villages. The remaining 600 villages will be covered soon.
Congress is prepared to counteract with signatory repulsions and counter-rhetoric by BJP leaders. After Karnataka, Gujarat is the second major state where a BJP is prone to face a strong blow by a central opposition party. We will soon work out a programme to launch an agitation and focus on failures of the Narendra Modi government, said VK Shukla, the Rae Bareli Congress chief.