Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: Rahul Gandhi attacks Modi, Patnaik in Odisha

Gandhi said unemployment has assumed alarming proportions in Odisha, forcing three million people to migrate to other states for jobs

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi-led Union government and chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s administration in Odisha of “running a partnership” to loot the state’s people. He said the Congress was fighting against the partnership.

“In Parliament, [Odisha’s ruling] BJD [Biju Janata Dal] supports the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]. The BJD people disturb us at the instance of the BJP,” he said on the second day of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Odisha.

Gandhi said unemployment has assumed alarming proportions in Odisha, forcing three million people to migrate to other states for jobs. “On the other hand, 30 millionaires from outside Odisha have come here to loot the state’s natural resources and assets.”

Gandhi, who earlier offered prayer at a Shiva temple, spoke about countering the hate the BJP and its ideological found Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were allegedly spreading. He added tribals, Dalits, and backward classes were denied justice. Gandhi said he was in Odisha to listen to the people’s grievances.

There was no immediate response from the BJD and BJP to Gandhi’s comments.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the BJD and BJP two sides of the same coin. “Whenever I talk with BJD [Parliament] members, they say that they have instructions from Bhubaneswar to support Modi. In any discussion or during the passage of any bill, the BJD has never criticised the Modi government.”

Ramesh said the SAIL steel plant in Rourkela and the aluminium plants of PSU Nalco in Odisha would be privatised if Modi is re-elected. “During the 1950s and 60s, the public sector built our country. Steel and fertiliser factories were set up, and big dams like the Hirakud dam, oil refineries, and NALCO were constructed along with NTPC. All these units are now under threat as Modi’s vision and policy is to sell them.”

Ramesh said the Congress built the country and Modi is keen on selling it to a handful of industrialists. “If he [Modi] returns to power for the third time, Rourkela and NALCO will be sold off. It is only Congress which will oppose it as BJD and BJP are same.”