POLL-SNIPPETS: No force can stop caste census, it's my life mission: Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said those who call themselves "deshbhakt" are scared of the 'X-ray' of caste census but no force can stop it and his life mission is to secure justice for 90 per cent of population, as he hit back at the BJP amid the row on the issue of wealth redistribution.
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said those who call themselves "deshbhakt" are scared of the 'X-ray' of caste census but no force can stop it and his life mission is to secure justice for 90 per cent of population, as he hit back at the BJP amid the row on the issue of wealth redistribution.
Addressing the 'Samajik Nyay Sammelan' in Delhi, Gandhi said he was targeted by the BJP and the prime minister for just talking about finding how much injustice had been done to 90 per cent of the population. "I am not interested in caste but in 'nyay' (justice). I am saying that gross injustice is being done to 90 per cent of the population. I have not even said till date that we will take any action on that.
"I just said let us find out how much injustice is being done. There should be no objection to that. If you get injured and I say that get an X-ray done, no one should object to that," the Congress leader said. The former Congress asserted that it is his life mission to ensure justice for the 90 per cent of the population against whom injustice has been done. "As soon as our government is formed, the first thing that would be done is a caste census," Gandhi said.
From the Rs 16 lakh crore transferred by Modi to select business people, the Congress is going to return a small amount to 90 per cent of the population, he said. "We have calculated...what we felt is justice and that help should be given, we put it down in the manifesto," he said of the party's guarantees mentioned in the manifesto.
'Cong's loot... zindagi ke baad bhi', says Modi as Pitroda's inheritance tax remarks fuel fresh attack
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday seized on Congress leader Sam Pitroda's remarks on inheritance tax to step up the ruling BJP's blistering attack on the issue of "wealth redistribution", saying "zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi" is the opposition party's mantra to "loot" people.
In his poll rallies, Modi framed Pitroda's comments in his wider onslaught against the Congress, asserting that they have exposed its hidden agenda and that the party has become so removed from the country's social and family values that it wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children. The Congress swung into damage control, distancing itself from the comments of the US-based president of its overseas wing.
Its general secretary and communication department head Jairam Ramesh said on X, "Sensationalising his comments now and tearing them out of context are deliberate and desperate attempts at diverting attention away from Mr. Narendra Modi's malicious and mischievous election campaign; that is anchored only in lies and more lies." Pitroda had spoken about inheritance tax in the US while delving into the issue of redistribution of health.
At an election rally in Chhattisgarh's Ambikapur, Modi said the dangerous intentions of the Congress are coming to the fore one by one and now it says it will impose inheritance tax. "The advisor of 'shehzada' of the 'shahi parivar', who was also the advisor to the shehzada's father, said that more tax should be imposed on the middle class and those who earn by toiling hard," Modi said, apparently referring to Rahul Gandhi and Pitroda.
The Congress will impose a tax on the assets inherited by people from their parents, he said, claiming that the "panja" (Congress' poll symbol) will snatch the assets from their children. "Congress ka mantra hei Congress ki loot 'zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi' (Congress' mantra is looting people when they are alive and afterwards too)," he said improvising on the iconic tagline of state-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
"Till you are alive, the Congress will impose more tax and after your life ends, it will impose the burden of inheritance tax on you. They (Congress) want to snatch your assets and rights of your children," the prime minister alleged. He spoke on similar lines in his rallies in Madhya Pradesh.
Def minister shouldn't lower his dignity by uttering 'blatant falsehoods': Chidambaram slams Rajnath
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday hit back at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over his voicing support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'redistribution of wealth' remarks and said the Defence Minister should not lower his dignity by uttering such "blatant falsehoods".
Chidambaram also asked Singh where in the Congress manifesto there was a mention of redistribution of assets to infiltrators. "I am disappointed that a sober politician like Mr Rajnath Singh should speak falsehoods. Economic Times has reported his speech where he had said that it was mentioned in the Congress' Manifesto that 'Congress would grab assets of the people and redistribute them to infiltrators'," Chidambaram said.
"I want to ask Mr Rajnath Singh, 'on which page of the Congress' Manifesto did you read that statement? Was Mr Rajnath Singh reading a document written by ghosts in invisible ink?" the former Union minister said. The defence minister should not lower his dignity by uttering such "blatant falsehoods", Chidambaram said.
On Tuesday night, Chidambaram said, "The pathological fear of defeat has driven the BJP leaders to make outrageous allegations, and I am sorry for them. What else explains the bizarre claim that the Congress will seize the mangalsutra, streedhan and Temple properties, and redistribute them?" Even the most die-hard supporter of the BJP will not believe these "meaningless utterances", he said.
PM frustrated, afraid of invisible voters, alleges Kharge
With the second phase of Lok Sabha elections just two days away, the Congress alleged on Wednesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "frustrated" and "afraid of invisible voters" who support the grand old party and accused him of using communal polarisation to secure votes.
Addressing a press conference in
Thiruvananthapuram, AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge hit out at Modi and asked him if the BJP had such great confidence about their victory in the LS polls and the Congress is nothing, why is the Prime Minister bothered about them. He also slammed Modi for his recent "mangalsutra' references against the Congress and said the party leaders have lived and made sacrifices for the nation.
The veteran Congress leader questioned if any leader of the BJP-RSS had ever made sacrifices for the nation and said they didn't even participate in the national movement. "For elections, Modi ji is lying to the people that their mangalsutra shall not be safe. Congress governed this country for 55 years. Has that even happened once?" Kharge said.
Explaining the sacrifices made by Congress leaders, he further said Indira Gandhi had donated her jewellery during the 1962 war while Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru donated their houses for the freedom movement. Stating that the Congress had great expectations after the first phase of the polls was completed, the AICC chief said he had travelled to nearly 10-12 states and claimed his party was getting a very good response from voters there.
"I hope the undercurrent, that I can say, is not visible, but Modiji is afraid of these invisible voters who will come out in the election, and that's why he is always criticising the Congress," Kharge told reporters. If BJP will get 400 seats this time and they have such great confidence, then why is the saffron party welcoming corrupt people to their fold, he asked.
'Who snatched Mangalsutra of wives of soldiers killed in Pulwama': Dimple Yadav hits out at BJP
In a veiled attack on the BJP over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mangalsutra' remark, SP leader Dimple Yadav on Wednesday said the party should answer "who snatched the Mangalsutra of wives of soldiers" killed in Pulwama.
The Samajwadi Party leader was referring to Modi's allegations at an election rally that if the Congress came to power, it would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims and cited former prime minister Manmohan Singh's statement that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
"They won't even spare your 'mangalsutra', "Modi had said in Banswara, Rajasthan.
The SP and the Congress are a part of the opposition INDIA bloc and are fighting the Lok Sabha polls together in Uttar Pradesh. "Those who talk of the Mangalsutra should also talk about the Pulwama incident. Our soldiers were martyred and the mangalsutra of their wives were snatched from them," Yadav said at a rally in Unnao (UP).
"These people should answer who was behind the Pulwama incident? What did the government do about the incident?" Dimple Yadav, who is the wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, said without taking any names. More than 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after their vehicle convoy was attacked in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019 ahead of the general elections.
Meanwhile, blaming the ruling BJP for "rising" inflation in the country, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the waiver of Rs 16 lakh crore loans of industrialists and extorting money from them in the guise of electoral bonds have led to price rise in the country.
Addressing the workers' conference of the INDIA bloc in Etawah, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, the country's farmers, poor, youth and minority communities are standing together against the BJP and will ensure its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
"The BJP has so far waived Rs 16 lakh crore loans of industrialists. The loans of the big and powerful people who supported them (BJP) were not only waived but they were also given more loans from banks and donations were taken from the same companies. The result is that today we are facing inflation," Yadav said.
