“I am from Amethi and will remain from Amethi,” asserted Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader is contesting from Rae Bareli instead of Amethi, the constituency he left for Kerala’s Wayanad after losing it to BJP’s Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Recalling his association with Amethi, he said, “I came to Amethi for the first time when I was 12 years old. I have shared a strong bond with Amethi ever since.”
Asking the people of the constituency not to have any misgivings about his choice of Rae Bareli to contest the Lok Sabha elections, he affirmed, “I am from Amethi and will remain from Amethi.”
Displaying a copy of the Constitution, he said this election is not a general election but a fight to save the Constitution. “People of BJP have openly said if they come to power again, they would change the Constitution. If the Constitution ends, reservations will end. Public sector jobs will end. Against this backdrop, the priority this time is to protect the Constitution,” he said.
Quoting a statement given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an interview, the Congress leader said according to him, “everyone cannot be the same”. “They (the BJP) want to maintain poverty in the country. This is the reason Modi has waived off the loans of the rich but does not even talk about the poor, he alleged.
“If our government comes (to power), we will make women millionaires. Every year, we will transfer one lakh rupees into the accounts of poor women and if the BJP people make more noise, then we will increase it to two lakh rupees.”
Speaking on the occasion, Akhilesh Yadav pointed out that the BJP has brought the Agniveer scheme for recruitment in the Army. If they come to power again, they will introduce the scheme to the police as well.
He appealed to the people to keep the issue of unemployment and inflation in mind when they go to vote.