Playing to the gallery, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday opened a heavy steel safe with “Ek Hai To Safe Hai” written over it and then pulled out two posters out of it.
One of the posters had a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and businessman Gautam Adani with the BJP slogan “Ek Hai To Safe Hai” written prominently over it in bold letters. The second was a poster with the map of Dharavi on it. Both these posters were displayed prominently behind him throughout the press meet.
Addressing the media, he said, “We wanted to explain to you the thoughts behind the BJP’s ‘Ek Hai To Safe Hai’ slogan. Now you know who is ‘Ek’ and who exactly is ‘Safe’, which is Adani. Modi has given exactly the right slogan for this election. The only questions are who exactly is ‘Safe’, the ‘Safe’ belongs to whom and who is ‘Ek’,” as he pointed to the posters.
He stated that the Maharashtra assembly election is all about ideology. “The Maharashtra elections are about ideology. A few billionaires want the land of Mumbai to go to their hands. The estimate is Rs 1 lakh crore is being given to a single billionaire. We felt that Maharashtra’s farmers, unemployed and the poor need help. Inflation and unemployment are the real issues. We have clearly said that our focus is to help women. We will deposit Rs 3000 in the bank accounts of every woman and they will be able to travel in buses for free,” Rahul said.
Outlining the economic agenda of the Congress, Rahul said, “Loans of farmers worth Rs 3 lakh will be waived off. Soyabean farmers will get Rs 7,000 per quintal. We will set up a fair price committee for onion farmers. Cotton farmers will get a fair minimum support price (MSP)”.
He proceeded to talk about the caste census. “We have already begun conducting the caste census in Telangana and Karnataka, and will be implemented in Maharashtra as well. We would like to know and we would like to tell the people of Maharashtra about what is the population per community and how much is their participation. We wanted the central government to do it. I even told Narendra Modi that we will conduct a caste census which is the biggest issue before the country,” he said.
Rahul said that India has an estimated 50% of backward caste (OBC) population. “They have no participation anywhere in the government, in corporate India, or the media. Therefore, the caste census is a central pillar of our strategy. I have mentioned in Parliament that we will breach the limit of 50% reservation. The Prime Minister is not interested in implementing it,” Rahul said.
Gandhi elaborated on the health scheme which the Congress has promised to implement. “We have a scheme for health insurance which we have implemented in Rajasthan which has been very successful. People will be able to avail of medical treatment worth Rs 25 lakh”.
He said that unemployed youth would get an unemployment dole of Rs 4000 per month. “We plan to hire people to fill up 2.5 lakh of vacant government job posts,” he said.
Rahul said that the main issue is the redevelopment of Dharavi. “The aim is to change the nature of Mumbai and on the other hand, there are our farmers, labourers and youth who are aspiring and dreaming, whose dreams are being broken every day by the government of Maharashtra,” he said.
Gandhi said that the issue is not about Dharavi land alone, but even the mangrove land which is being taken away. “Our objection is that it is unfair. The entire political machinery is being twisted to help one person. We are not convinced about the tendering process. Everybody knows how the tendering process works. Everybody knows how the ED and Income Tax Department are used and how people are pressured. The best example before you is right in front of you, which is the Mumbai Airport.
“We are absolutely convinced about the theft of Dharavi land and it is being handed over to one person. The airports of the country are being given to one person. The entire defense manufacturing industry is being given to this person. Ports are being given to this person, Mumbai airport has been given to him,” he added.
The Gandhi scion also spoke about industrial projects and unemployment. “I have a list of projects which were snatched from Maharashtra and have been sent to other states. I would like to read the list. Vedanta’s Foxconn semiconductor plant, which was supposed to provide employment to one lakh youth in Maharashtra, was an industry project worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
“It has been snatched away from you, The Tata Airbus project is worth Rs 1.8 lakh crore which would have provided employment. GAIL Petrochemical project is worth Rs 600 crore, and would have employed 20,600 youth. This has been snatched away from Maharashtra. The Bulk Drug Park would have provided employment to 80,000 youth. It was a project worth Rs 3000 crore and that too was taken away,” he added.