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Demonetisation was meant to snatch women’s savings: Rahul at Mahila Samwad
“You must remember Narendra Modi had said before demonetisation that black money would return to the country. But I want to ask, did you ever see black money coming back?” Gandhi asked a gathering of around 250 women at the first Mahila Samwad, held at the Lalganj guest house, since the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, linked to the implementation of women’s reservation and delimitation, was defeated in the Lok Sabha last month.
Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that demonetisation was done to snatch away the savings women kept at home and to damage small industries and traders.
“You must remember Narendra Modi had said before demonetisation that black money would return to the country. But I want to ask, did you ever see black money coming back?” Gandhi asked a gathering of around 250 women at the first Mahila Samwad, held at the Lalganj guest house, since the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, linked to the implementation of women’s reservation and delimitation, was defeated in the Lok Sabha last month.
“Nahi mila na (You did not get it?). So why was demonetisation done? I will tell you. Women save money in their homes, and demonetisation was carried out to snatch away those savings. Their entire politics is about taking money away from the poor,” he said.
Gandhi said the Congress supported the implementation of women’s reservation but opposed linking it with delimitation and census exercises.
Gandhi further alleged that changes to MGNREGA affected the poor by stopping funds meant for labourers. “Demonetisation damaged small industries and small traders. They do not want India to manufacture goods. Instead, Adani and Ambani import products from China,” he claimed.
Referring to tensions involving Iran and the US, Gandhi said the Strait of Hormuz had been affected, which would lead to a rise in fuel prices.
“You may wonder why I am talking about Hormuz. The country is heading towards an economic storm because prices of oil, gas and kerosene are set to rise sharply,” he said, adding that transportation costs and prices of goods would increase significantly.
“Your politics has troubled small traders and poor people. I ask the government to protect them, but Modi asks people to buy electric vehicles and avoid foreign travel. Poor people neither buy vehicles nor travel abroad,” Gandhi said.
“What affects poor people is unemployment and inflation. You cannot imagine how much prices may rise,” he added.
“We have a long family association. You supported us in the election, and I thank you whole-heartedly for that,” Gandhi said.
He also referred to complaints raised by women regarding low honorariums for Anganwadi workers. “In Kerala, our government increased the pay of Anganwadi workers on the very first day. Wherever we form governments, we work for people. BJP works differently,” he said.
The Congress leader also accused the BJP of manipulating elections through voter list revisions and EVMs. “You must have heard about vote theft in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and now in Assam and West Bengal. BJP did vote chori by increasing or decreasing votes through EVMs,” he alleged.
“We caught vote theft in Karnataka and then in Haryana. The day we exposed it in Haryana, they began the SIR exercise. Earlier, BJP used to do this, now the Election Commission is doing it. Actually, they now want to change constituencies,” Gandhi alleged.
He further alleged that constituency boundaries were being redrawn to weaken Congress support. “In Assam they bifurcated constituencies to scatter Congress voters and now they want to replicate this across the country. They are doing it in a hidden manner and brought a new women’s reservation bill. Their target through this bill was delimitation and changing the political map of India,” he said.
Gandhi will meet workers and people of his constituency on Wednesday morning, pay tribute to Amar Shaheed Veera Pasi at his statue before leaving for New Delhi, said Pankaj Tiwari, district Congress president.
‘Bhaiyon aur behno’ to ‘behno’: Rahul corrects himself
During his address at the Mahila Samvad, Gandhi initially addressed the gathering as “Bhaiyon aur behno” before immediately correcting himself and saying “Behno”, as the event was exclusively for women.
Gandhi also suggested that Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra could have attended the event. “Had you said so earlier, I would have brought Priyanka along with me,” he told the women gathered at the Mahila Samvad.
