Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh of operating for the big industrialists while being indifferent towards the cause of the poor, farmers and middle class.
She said that the country was witnessing huge unemployment and galloping price rise but the government was not bothered about it. Small businesses, which have been hit hard by the demonetisation, are facing enormous hardships on account of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Addressing an election rally at Damoh in the Bundelkhand region of MP, the Congress leader alleged that the Narendra Modi Government was waiving off the industrialists’ loans running in lakhs of crores and spending lavishly on the beautification of the Parliament building and on a big hall in New Delhi.
The Congress leader told the gathering that on the one hand, the government was not accepting their genuine demand for the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) saying it does not have the funds, but on the other, the same government has got enough money to waive off the loans worth thousands of crores of industrialists like Gautam Adani.
Without naming anyone, she said, “You have given them the country’s property. You are flying in an aircraft of Rs 8,000 crore. The Parliament building was in good shape, yet you are spending Rs 20,000 crore on its beautification.”
“You made a big hall in New Delhi spending Rs 27,000 crore,” she pointed out, apparently targeting PM Narendra Modi over the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi where the G-20 summit was held recently.
She asked the people not to get carried away when the leaders play with their religious sentiments. Instead, she said, they should consider their future while voting.
Priyanka Gandhi pointed out that the people of Bundelkhand were migrating to other places due to the dearth of job opportunities in the region and reminded the audience about the brainchild of her brother Rahul Gandhi’s multi-crore Bundelkhand economic package of the Congress-led UPA-2 government to the region for its uplift.
The Congress leader said the unemployment problem has beset the country as job generation vistas have completely shrunk.
On the issues of unemployment and inflation, Vadra said, “First, the government closed public sector undertakings (PSUs) and sold them to its friends. Later, it implemented demonetisation and rolled out GST. All these things have broken the backbone of the people of the country.”
She reiterated her party’s commitment to conduct a caste census, saying the exercise was necessary to know the exact number of people from the OBCs, SCs, and STs in the country so that policies could be framed accordingly for their welfare.
“What is the meaning of a caste census? We want to know how many people are there in the country from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities. If the government doesn’t know their exact number, how would it give justice to them,” she asked.
“When we talk about conducting a caste census, they (the BJP Government) turn silent,” she alleged.
Vadra also slammed the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government in the state for introducing the Laadli Behna Yojana for women barely two months ahead of assembly elections. “Do you consider them (women) fools and think that they don’t understand all these things? What have they (the BJP) done in the last 18 years of their rule,” she asked.
Priyanka pointed out that the BJP Government in the state provided only 21 jobs in the last three years despite the fact that a large number of posts, including those of doctors and police, are lying vacant.
She advised the people to beware so that they could fight for their rights and urged them to vote for the Congress for a better future.