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In Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi targets BJP's ‘laboratory’: ‘Dead being treated’
Gandhi referenced the CAG report on Ayushman Bharat scheme irregularities in Madhya Pradesh during a public rally.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh where he accused the ruling party of corruption and mismanagement in the state. During a public rally in Shahdol, Rahul Gandhi quoted veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani from his book where he apparently claimed that the "original laboratory" of the BJP-RSS was not in Gujarat, as widely believed, but in Madhya Pradesh.
Gandhi said, "In BJP's laboratory, the dead are being treated, and their money is being stolen," in an apparent reference to a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) flagging serious irregularities in the Centre's ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme in Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress leader also expressed concern about the future of the youth in the state, particularly referring to the Vyapam scam, which has cast a long shadow over the educational and employment prospects of thousands of young people. Gandhi said, "The future of 1 crore youths is being ruined in Vyapam, 40 people are killed. MBBS seats are sold, and ₹15 lakh has to be given to become a registrar."
The Vyapam scam, a massive admission and recruitment scandal that came to light in Madhya Pradesh in 2013, has been a source of controversy and legal proceedings, implicating several politicians and government officials.
Gandhi further said, “In BJP's laboratory, 18,000 farmers have died by suicide in 18 years.”
"In BJP's laboratory, their leaders urinate on adivasis. This is what Advani meant when he said that BJP-RSS laboratory will be built in Madhya Pradesh," he added.
A massive row erupted in July when a video showed a drunk man, whom the opposition claimed had links to the Bharatiya Janata Party, urinating on a tribal man in Sidhi in Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan later apologised to and washed the feet of the tribal labourer after opposition parties and tribal bodies held massive protests across the state.
Gandhi also doubled down on his demand for a nationwide caste census, saying the exercise would answer the question: “What should be the share for OBC and SC communities?”
