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Questions of Congress’ PM candidate are distraction attempts: Rahul Gandhi
The Congress has fielded several questions about its PM candidate for the 2024 assembly elections. On Saturday, senior Congres leader Jairam Ramesh noted that the BJY was not an excuse to exercise to project Rahul Gandhi as a PM candidate for the 2024 general elections.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday dismissed questions over Congress’ chief ministerial and Prime Ministerial candidates calling them “distraction attempts” at a press conference at Samana, Haryana and said the media does not show the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY).
Retorting to a reporter’s question on the chief ministerial candidates from the party for the upcoming assembly elections in several states, Gandhi said, “There is uproar on social media regarding the yatra, but the national media doesn’t show anything. Distraction attempts are made by asking who will be the CM or the PM. I bet the next distractionary question would be around who will the Congress’ PM candidate.”
Also Read: Bharat Jodo Yatra against fear and hatred: Rahul Gandhi
The Congress has fielded several questions about its PM candidate for the 2024 assembly elections. On Saturday, senior Congres leader Jairam Ramesh noted that the BJY was not an excuse to exercise to project Rahul Gandhi as a PM candidate for the 2024 general elections.
Furthering his attack on the Agnipath scheme, Rahul Gandhi said, “This nation is lying to its youth. Thousands of youth I met said they wanted to pursue careers in the medical, engineering and defence forces, but the truth is only 10% of them will make it in these fields. Every day their hearts will break, and their dreams will shatter.”
“The government doesn’t think about the employment of these people,” he added.
Speaking about the need for a boost to small businesses in teh country, Gandhi said, “You tell me the name of a small mechanic who became a crorepati? Small businesses must be bolstered to rise to a prosperous level. The day this country starts respecting skills, it will become a true superpower. Till then, it continues to be a hollow country.”
Earlier this week, the Wayanad MP, in a rally at the Baghpat-Shamli border during the march, slammed the centre’s Agneepath scheme and said the scheme was depriving the youth of opportunities.
“Previously, the youth used to serve in the army for 15 years and receive a pension, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks that the pension must be kept aside. The youth should train for six months, hold a gun, stay in the army for four years, and then be kicked out unemployed. This is the new India.”
Also Read: Prashant Kishor jabs Nitish, Lalu on caste census; Rahul on Bharat Jodo Yatra
Continuing his verbal jabs against the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Gandhi said, “There must be respect for the meditation instead, the BJP-RSS are taking it towards forced worship. Was the meditation of the poor respected through demonetisation? The Bharat Jodo Yatra has amplified the meditative efforts, and now it is becoming a battle between meditation and forced worship.”
Speaking about the efforst of farmers and daily wage worker in India, Gandhi said, “People say look how many kilometres Rahul Gandhi has walked but they do not talk about how many kilometres the farmer walks. My walk is not comparable to the farmers or labourers who have walked for much longer and farther. This is a country of meditators and not forced worshippers. To become a true superpower, we must embrace the meditators those who produce.”
Addressing questions claiming the mistreatment of activist Soni Sori and an alleged encounter with an Adivasi youth in Chattisgarh, Gandhi said, “Will the PM sit down to address such questions at a press conference? The BJP is inciting hatred amongst people from different castes and religions but does Congress do this? This atmosphere of fear, if it exists in Chattisgarh, would be examined and addressed by me personally. But the hatred spread in the country is not being carried out by the Chattisgarh government as its policy.”
Regarding a question about implementing the Swaminathan Aayog report to address the row over the Minimum Support Price, Gandhi said, “We assess the financial implications, but it won’t matter if I say that we are implementing it now. We will have deliberations over this while deciding our manifesto.”
“However, what matters is that the farmer is being cornered from all sides; they are being killed under the burden of fuel and fertiliser prices. Demonetisation and wrongful implementation of GST was a way to attack farmers. If the Congress government comes into power, this attack on farmers will end,” Gandhi said.
