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BJP toppling democratically elected governments, says Priyanka
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ripped into the BJP on Thursday, blaming it for “creating instability by toppling democratically elected governments”
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ripped into the BJP on Thursday, blaming it for “creating instability by toppling democratically elected governments”.
“BJP’s top leaders claimed that the Congress can’t give a stable government. After Independence, who had the most stable governments?” she asked during a rally at Sataun in Sirmaur’s Shillai assembly segment.
“You know the truth about who created the instability and toppled democratically elected governments by buying MLAs,” she added.
Highlighting the change which country’s politics has undergone in recent times, Priyanka said that “money and lies” have replaced truth and non-violence -- the founding principles of Indian democracy.
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Urging the people of Himachal to cast their vote prudently on their experience and keeping in view their circumstances, she said these elections would decide the future of their children.
Mounting an attack on the Jai Ram-led BJP government in the state, Priyanka said, “If we look at the situation in the last five years, Himachal has been pushed under the debt of ₹70,000 crore.”
“There are 30 lakh youths of whom 15 lakh are jobless. As many as 63,000 government posts are lying vacant, but appointments are not being made,” she added.
Giving examples of the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, she backed her party’s promise of restoring the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) once voted to power.
“However, when we talk about creating one lakh jobs, restoring OPS and giving ₹1,500 to women every month, the BJP says it is impossible as there is no money for it,” Priyanka said.
“They don’t have money for OPS, but waive loans of their industrial friends worth lakhs of crores, which is also the public money,” she added.
“OPS is the right of people who dedicate their entire lives to the country and it should be restored, even if it has to be done by cutting down on loan waiver to the industrialists,” the Congress leader said.
In five years, she said, they (BJP) didn’t curb the inflation, but imposed GST on apple packaging while prices of gas cylinders hit ₹1,200 because its government’s intention was not good.
She said public-sector units (PSUs) and small businesses generated the maximum number of jobs in India, but the BJP sold these PSUs to their industrialist friends and ruined small traders by imposing GST on the pretext of Covid pandemic.
Urging people not to get misled by the BJP’s rhetoric, Priyanka said its leaders won’t not talk about what they did in the last five years, but engage in useless things.
She also slammed the government for poor health services in the rural areas of Himachal.
Striking an emotional chord, Priyanka said she can feel the love that Himachal’s people had for her. “My grandmother Indira Gandhi had established a relationship with you, which I am carrying forward,” she added.
“Like my family, thousands of Himachal families have sacrificed their loved ones for the country and when you to go to vote, you are also performing a duty towards their sacrifices,” the Congress leader said.
