Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had locked his Cabinet at Racecourse Road during demonetisation.
Addressing a rally in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan, the 48-year-old Gandhi said that it personnel from the SPG security force told him of this.
“Narendra Modi ne apne cabinet ko notebandi ke samay Racecourse Road mein taale se bandh kar diya tha. Sachaai hai (Modi locked his Cabinet at Racecourse Road during demonetisation),” he said.
“SPG wale meri bhi security karte hain, inhone ne bataya mujhe (The SPG, who also guard me, told me this),” Gandhi alleged.
The SPG is a special force that guards the Prime Minister of India.
The Congress chief was targeting the PM over demonetisation, which he alleged was undertaken without proper consultation from anyone from the Cabinet or RBI.
“RBI showed the path to the country’s economy. He (PM Modi) didn’t ask them; did demonetisation,” Gandhi further said.
Praising other top leaders of the BJP, including the late Manohar Parrikar, Gandhi said that they have experience and knowledge.
“Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Advani-ji, Parrikar – our ideology is different and we will defeat them, but they have experience. Why do I hug them? Because they have experience and knowledge,” he said as the crowd applauded.
Taking a jibe at the PM over the latter’s “cloud cover” remark while referring to the Balakot airstrike in an interview to a TV channel, Gandhi said that the PM is lost in his own world.
“Dekhiye PM mein itna gyan hai, unhone Air Force ke logon ko kaha ghabrao mat, badalon se hume fayda milega, radar hawai jahaz ko badalon mein nahi dekh payega. Jinko samajh hai unki nahi sunte, bas apni duniya mein hain (The PM has so much knowledge. He tells Air Force not to worry because clouds will help aircraft go undetected by radar. He doesn’t listen to those who have the knowledge and is lost in his own world),” Gandhi said.
Elections on all four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh will be held in the last phase on 19 May. Demonetisation and Dassault Rafale deal are two of the major issues on which the Congress has been relentlessly targeting the Modi government.