Ahmedabad: Gujarat Assembly elections: Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi claimed that there was a \u201czabardast (tremendous) undercurrent\u201d against the BJP, and the results would be \u201czabardast\u201d.
\nTargeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said: \u201cModiji pehle corruption par bolte thay, lekin jab Jay Shah ka mamla aya, Rafale jet ka mamla aya, toh corruption par bolna bandh kar diya (Modiji used to talk about corruption. But ever since the Jay Shah and Rafale jet issues surfaced, he has stopped talking about corruption).\u201d
\nAddressing a press conference here, he said Modi has also stopped talking about education, hospitals and farmers\u2019 issues. \u201cYeh mood mein change sirf Modi mein hi nahin hai. Yeh Rupani mein bhi hai, aur poori BJP mein hai (It is not just Modi who has undergone this change in mood. There is a change in mood in Rupani too, and the entire BJP),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMood yahan par bilkul badla hua hai\u2026 zabardast undercurrent hai. Dekhna, yahan par zabardast badlav aane wala hai. Result zabardast aane wala hai. BJP ghabaraee huyee hai, yeh pehli baar dekha hai ki sabhi agitation par hain\u2026 Patidar, OBC, Adivasi, Dalit, kisan, sab agitation par hain\u2026 Political mahaul bilkul badla hua hai. Aur mujhe vishwas hai ki hum jitenge (There is a complete change in mood\u2026 there is a tremendous undercurrent. A tremendous change is about to come. The result will be tremendous\u2026 The BJP is worried, for the first time, everyone is agitating. Patidar, OBC, Adivasi, Dalit, farmers, everyone has launched an agitation\u2026 There is a change in the political atmosphere. And I am confident that we will win),\u201d said Rahul.<\/p>\n
Is It Wrong To Visit A Temple?, Asks Rahul Gandhi On Criticism Regarding His Temple Visits<\/p>\n
He said the Congress, for the first time in 22 years, had realised its strength in Gujarat. \u201cCongress party ek saath khadi ho gayee hai, united hai, aur BJP ko challenge kar rahi hai (The Congress party has stood up together, is united and has challenged the BJP),\u201d he said. \u201cEven the BJP has accepted that the Congress is fighting the elections with full strength and a good strategy.\u201d
\nHe said the winter session of Parliament was delayed this year because Modi was afraid of discussions on Jay Shah and the Rafale deal. \u201cBut the people of Gujarat are very intelligent. They understand everything. They know why the BJP is not talking about corruption and farmers\u2019 issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stating that elections are fought on certain basic issues and political narratives, Rahul said: \u201cA party whose narrative does not change and remains consistent wins the elections. But if you look at the BJP, they were not able to maintain their narrative and frequently changed it, from Narmada, to development, to OBC, to corruption etc.\u2019\u2019
\nResponding to a question on Mani Shanker Aiyar\u2019s use of the word \u201cneech\u2019\u2019 while referring to Modi, Rahul said he had made his position clear through \u201cwords as well as action\u201d. \u201cI have made it clear through my action that I am not going to tolerate the way he spoke about Modi, because Modi is the Prime Minister. But Modi\u2019s comments about Manmohan Singh are also not acceptable. He (Manmohan) was the Prime Minister, he has also worked and sacrificed for the country,\u201d said Rahul.<\/p>\n
\u201cModiji is my political opponent\u2026 He has been using offensive language against me. Lekin mere muh se un ke baare mein koi galat shabd nahin niklega (But I will not utter any offensive word against him),\u201d said Rahul. \u201cI want to change the nature of political discourse in the country. It has become nasty, ugly. I want to do politics with love,\u201d he said.
\nAsked about his temple visits \u2014 he visited the Jagannath temple at Jamalpur in Ahmedabad on Tuesday \u2014 Rahul said he also went to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand. \u201cIt is the BJP\u2019s story that I visited temples in Gujarat only. On my political tour of Gujarat, wherever I got a chance, I visited temples. I felt very happy. I prayed for a golden future for Gujarat and its people, for better development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While he did not respond to questions on Modi\u2019s allegation about Pakistan\u2019s involvement in the Gujarat elections, Rahul directed a question on the Patidar quota issue to state party president Bharatsinh Solanki.
\nAsked about Modi\u2019s flight in a seaplane, Rahul said: \u201cIt is good. If he wants, he can fly in a seaplane. But the issue is elections in Gujarat. The main issue is not seaplanes. It is a distraction\u2026 The main issue is what the BJP has done for Gujarat in 22 years. Are there doctors in hospitals? Are there schools and colleges for the poor? Modi should speak on Jay Shah and Rafale deal.\u201d
\nRahul alleged that under the BJP, Gujarat has seen \u201cone-sided development\u201d. \u201cOnly 5-10 people have benefitted during 22 years of Modi-Rupani rule, the common man has got nothing. Over 90 per cent of colleges are in the private sector. You have to pay Rs 10-15 lakh to get admission in engineering and medical colleges. A poor or middle-class student can\u2019t dream of becoming an engineer or doctor,\u201d he said.
\nTerming demonetisation and GST as \u201cirrational economic policy\u2019\u2019, he said the Congress, if elected, would waive farm loans, raise the minimum support price(MSP) of agriculture produce, appoint doctors and nurses in government hospitals, and help youth in education and employment. \u201cWe will take all decisions by consulting the people of Gujarat. We will not take any unilateral decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Assembly elections: Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi claimed that there was a \u201czabardast (tremendous) undercurrent\u201d against the BJP, and the results would be \u201czabardast\u201d. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said: \u201cModiji pehle corruption par bolte thay, lekin jab Jay Shah ka mamla aya, Rafale jet ka mamla aya, toh corruption par bolna bandh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[312,315],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13153,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13151\/revisions\/13153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}