*Will create more admn units after elections: Omar
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 11: As battle of ballots intensified, AICC (I) vice president Rahul Gandhi today upped the ante against BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi targeting him with throwing out veteran party leaders like LK Advani and Jaswant Singh and roping-in industrialists like Adani and went on to question Modi’s marital status saying he had hidden his marriage and disclosed it only for the first time in the affidavit filed for Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a rally at Sports Stadium in Doda town in support of Congress candidate for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat and Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad this morning, Rahul also played the emotional card saying he belonged to Jammu and Kashmir and his family roots are here and that he enjoyed love and trust of the people of this State.
“Narendra Modi has fought many elections but never declared that he was married. They (the BJP leaders) talk of women empowerment but hesitate from declaring the wife’s name. They talk of women’s rights in New Delhi but didn’t mention name of the wife in election affidavit (prior to this election). Why it took so long to Modi to declare the name of his wife”? Rahul asked in his nearly 25 minutes speech in the presence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, PCC (I) president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz and new Congress Incharge for Jammu and Kashmir Rajni Patil.
Azad, however, didn’t attend the rally as he was campaigning in remote areas of Udhampur district as only four days were left for campaigning for Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary seat, which goes to polls on April 17.
This is for the first time when Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate by name and not only questioned his marital status but also charged him with sidelining senior party leaders like LK Advani and Jaswant Singh and roping-in the industrialist Adani by giving him “free land” in Gujarat.
“In New Delhi, the BJP leaders talk of women security and empowerment but Modi has himself hidden the name of his wife. In Karnataka, the BJP leaders have indulged in undesirable activity including watching of (porn) movies in the Assembly. In BJP ruled Chhattisgarh, about 20,000 women are missing. The spying of a woman in Gujarat is well known to all. This is the condition of the BJP but the party has pasted large posters in Delhi talking about women’s security,” Rahul said and charged that the BJP has no right to talk of the women’s rights if their leaders have no respect for the women.
The Congress vice president said Modi has fought many elections but never declared that he was married. “We have learned for the first time through an affidavit filed by Modi before the Election Commission along with nomination papers for Vadodra Parliamentary seat in Gujarat that he has a wife. If he was married, why did he hide it in previous affidavits? Why it took so long to Modi to reveal the name of his wife”? he asked.
Modi has for the first time declared himself as a married man by revealing his wife’s name as Jashodaben in an affidavit filed before the Election Commission along with his nomination papers for Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat.
Targeting Modi over the issue of alleged spying of a woman in Gujarat, Rahul said: “the Chief Minister’s office and the police set up was engaged in tapping of the phone of a woman–the entire Gujarat Police was stalking her…The Chief Minister wanted to know what was happening around her. If these examples are anything to reveal the true face of BJP, then what about the claim of BJP about women empowerment across the country?” he asked.
Taking a dig at Modi’s claim of governance, Rahul during his first election rally in Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha elections, said it was “Adani Government” being run in Gujarat. “He (Adani) is Gujarat’s big businessman. How was he given everything? They (Modi Government) work like this,” Rahul said.
“They talk of development…Will undertake development… In Gujarat, one person was given hundreds of acres of land free and asked to do whatever he wants to do with it, but at the same time, workers and farmers were weeping,” he said, without naming the person who was granted huge chunk of land.
Rahul said while Adani group was given “everything” by Modi, but at the same time senior BJP leaders like L K Advani and Jaswant Singh were “thrown out”.
“Advani was thrown out– Jaswant Singh was thrown out (from the party) and Adani was taken in”, he said and told the crowd that “this kind of culture was prevailing in the BJP”.
This is the second time in as many days that Rahul has attacked Modi on his alleged links with the Adani group.
Addressing a meeting in Udaipur yesterday, Rahul had said, “BJP has chucked out Advani and brought in Adani in its race to make one person the Prime Minister of India”.
Declaring that the Congress will win the elections, Rahul said it was only the Congress, which had the capacity and will to take all people-poor and rich-together and keep the society united instead of dividing them.
Playing emotional card, Rahul said he belonged to Jammu and Kashmir as his family roots are here and want to see the State developing.
“I have love and trust of the people of Jammu and Kashmir with me as I belong to this State,” he said amidst applause from the crowd. It may be mentioned here that Indira Gandhi’s grandfather, Moti Lal Nehru belonged to Kashmir.
Taking credit for implementation of 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India in Jammu and Kashmir, Rahul recalled that the Congress had forcefully taken up the issue of implementation of 73rd amendment and lauded the coalition Government for implementing it.
He referred to large number of development works undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir during the UPA Government including Rs 22,000 crores worth railway project of linking the Kashmir Valley with rest of India, Jammu-Srinagar National Highway corridor at the cost of Rs 9000 crores, construction of longest 11 kilometers long railway tunnel to link Banihal with Baramulla, Mughal road and upcoming Zojila tunnel in Ladakh.
Rahul said the Lok Sabha elections were a battle between two ideologies. “On one side it is National Conference and Congress, which stand for unification of the society and on the other it is BJP, which was pursuing divisive politics” he said
He said the country can only be taken towards peace, progress and prosperity through unity of the country, but the BJP is engaged in “divisive politics as they are throwing people out of various States as is in the case of Sikhs of Gujarat, who had lived there for decades”. He added that the BJP was putting in people of one State against another.
“Not development but dividing society is the goal of the BJP,” he said, describing the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate as “arrogant”, who was taking all decisions unilaterally without asking any other leader.
He said the Sikhs from Gujarat met him and they were weeping. “They were living there for past several years but were ousted,” he added.
Referring to present hi-fi campaign launched by the BJP for 2014 elections, Rahul recalled that BJP had launched a much hyped India Shining campaign in 2004 also but it ended up “badly”.
He also accused BJP of lifting content from Congress’ manifesto.
“Our senior leaders took six months to draft the election manifesto. They put in a lot of efforts for it like including people’s problems, grievances, developmental issues faced by youth, women, adivasis etc. But the BJP just picked up the copy of manifesto, removed our election symbol (hand) from it and pasted their election symbol (lotus) and made it their own election manifesto,” he alleged.
Rahul said the Congress had promised `Roof to All’, free drugs in hospitals to poor, farmers, children. In fact, he added, the Congress ruled Governments in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala and other places were already giving free medicines to the poor. The ailing people should feel that the Government is with them, he added.
“We have given Right to Food to the people and we will give `Right to Roof’ (house) to the people,” Rahul said, adding that he wants to see products like Made in Jammu and Kashmir in India instead of Made in China by opening up industries and generating employment in the State.
Asserting that he has regularly been visiting Jammu and Kashmir, he said he was advised against visiting Kashmir University during one of his visits but he did and was welcomed by the students. He said the youth of Jammu and Kashmir would get one lakh jobs under Himayat and Udaan. He said several projects have been launched in Jammu and Kashmir for empowerment of women. He referred to setting up of women police stations, reservations for women in Parliament and Assemblies as next steps forward.
Rahul said as long as he is alive, he will continue helping the people of the State.
Addressing the rally, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress candidate for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, has always served the State in different capacities-be he the Union Ministers, Chief Minister of the State or Member of Parliament.
Reiterating his charge of BJP-PDP nexus, Omar said the `Kalam-Davaat’ party had fielded candidates in Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seats to help the BJP.
“When a BJP leader claimed that they were getting new allies from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, I failed to realize, who were the allies from Kashmir till I came to know that the PDP had aligned with the BJP,” Omar claimed and said the selection of candidates by the PDP from particular areas was an indication of the PDP helping BJP on two seats of Jammu.
“The PDP wants Modi to become the Prime Minister. They have openly connived with the BJP but I won’t allow this to happen. We will win all six seats of Jammu and Kashmir,” Omar said.
Noting that Rahul Gandhi and the UPA Government have done a lot for Jammu and Kashmir, he said it was during the UPA’s tenure that train reached Banihal from Baramulla, the four-laning of National Highway is on and several projects have come under Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhymik Shiksha Abhiyan.
The Chief Minister said the incidents like Kishtwar clashes, summer unrest in Kashmir and 2008 land agitation in Jammu hampered development of Jammu and Kashmir and that’s why the NC-Congress were trying to keep the society united while the BJP was openly engaged in dividing it.
“There was a need to unite the country. Rahul known this,” he said.
Citing an example, Omar said, Modi has posted his posters only during the election campaign with the slogans `Is Baar Meri Sarkaar’. “He (Modi) is behaving like Badshah of Hindustan. Contrary to this, Rahul has been taking all section of society along and was capable of giving justice to all,” he added.
Omar said Modi has hurt his feelings by refusing to don a skullcap offered by an imam.
“Why should he (Modi) care about me and my emotions and feelings when he refused to wear a cap offered by an imam,” he said and praised Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for accepting a skullcap offered to him by a Minister in today’s rally.
“Majid Wani (Congress Minister) offered him (Rahul) a cap. He respected that cap and accepted it as a leader… Modi is not an iota of what Rahul is… He has even refused to don the cap offered by an imam,” Omar said.
Taking a dig at Modi, he said that “it tells us what is in the heart of people. Look at the man who is staking claim for the post of Prime Minister of the country, for his lotus flower and see his posters. Have you seen him standing with anybody? He figures alone in posters as if rest of BJP leaders have died. It seems he is running the party”.
Omar said, “He works like a king. But India is not run by one person. It runs with unity. See Rahul Gandhi — may be he is seen alone in one odd poster but rest have all the top leadership.”
“Only the person, who takes all people along with him can keep the country united and deserved to be the Prime Minister. This quality fits in Rahul,” the Chief Minister said and assailed the hate campaign of BJP like `badla’ (revenge) slogans albeit without naming BJP leader Amit Shah.
“Is this the approach to keep the country united”? Omar asked.
He said the coalition Government has created 659 administrative units in the State and left out areas would also get the units after the elections.
PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz also addressed the gathering and called upon the people to make NC-Congress candidates victorious in Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, Rahul landed at the airport at Udhampur and was received by Azad, Omar, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand and other senior Congress and NC leaders. He flew to Doda to address the rally and returned in the afternoon.
Sources said Azad didn’t attend Rahul’s rally as his joining would have added entire cost of Rahul’s visit in his expenditure for the elections.
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