Protecting the Constitution is India’s primary battle: Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi also said it was the first time he is seeking votes for his sister who has campaigned for him, and their parents earlier.
The main struggle in the country today is to protect and preserve the Constitution of India, Congress lawmaker Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday, as he praising his sister and United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate for the November 13 Lok Sabha bypoll in Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
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Gandhi, who was addressing a bypoll campaign rally, also said that both he and his sister are committed to establishing a medical college in the hill constituency in Kerala.
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“The main fight in the country today, that is taking place, is the fight for the Constitution of our country… The Constitution was not written with anger or with hatred. It was written by the people who fought the British, the people who had suffered, who spent years and years and years in jail. And they wrote the Constitution with humility, with love and with affection,” the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, addressing a corner meeting in Mananthavady.
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Gandhi also said it was the first time he is seeking votes for his sister who has campaigned for him, and their parents earlier. He highlighted the qualities of his sister, sharing nostalgic memories of their childhood. “She is the person who went and hugged the girl who was implicated in my father’s (Rajiv Gandhi) assassination. She said to me after she came back after meeting Nalini, she went emotional and then she said to me that I’m feeling bad for her,” he recalled.
“That is the training that she has received. And to me, this is the type of politics that needs to be done in India. Not the politics of hatred, but politics of love and affection.”
Gandhi, who quit the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat after the general elections this summer necessitating a bypoll, refrained from criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom his sister accused of working for the interest of big businessmen.
“Anyway, she has already mentioned Mr Modi and we all bored of him... then why mention him twice,” the Lok Sabha MP said during a joint meeting with his sister.
At a separate public meeting at Areekode in Malappuram district, Gandhi assured he and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the UDF candidate for the Lok Sabha bypoll in Wayanad, are committed to establishing a medical college in the hill constituency.
During the second phase of her campaign, Priyanka said: “Modi ji’s government works only for his big businessmen friends. His objective, is not to give you a better life. It is not to find new jobs for your young one who are educated. It is not to provide better health, education and well being of the people.”
She accused the Modi government of dividing people, spreading hatred among them and taking away their rights, besides damaging democratic institutions. “They attacked Rahul Gandhi Ji for fighting for people’s rights,” the Congress leader said.
She also mentioned her work with Mother Teresa and also about sister Rosebell who resides in Mananthavady. Priyanka promised to continue her fight for the establishment of a medical college here with full health facilities. In her speech, the Congress leader also highlighted night ban, traffic issues on Ghat Road, man-animal conflicts, tribals and agrarian issues in the mountain constituency.
Referring to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Programme (MGNREGA) that greatly benefited the tribal community, she saidd that the Centre’s funding for this programme and the job availability through the scheme have been reduced.
“We need to raise our voice in the Parliament, and all the platforms to push the government to increase the funding.” Priyanka Gandhi resumed her campaign from Sunday by holding public and corner meetings in the hill constituency with her brother Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress general secretary, who is making her electoral debut, will be in Kerala till November 7, according to her itinerary released by the party. After the meeting at Gandhi Park in Mananthavady here, she attended corner meetings separately at Valad and Korom in Mananthavady Assembly constituency on Sunday.
Priyanka resumed her campaign for the bypoll amid criticism from rival candidates that she would visit the constituency like a guest or a seasonal festival.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency consists of seven assembly segments - Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST) and Kalpetta in Wayanad district, Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.
The by-election for Wayanad LS seat was necessitated after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Lok Sabha polls from there and Rae Bareli constituency, decided to vacate Wayanad.
Voting in Wayanad constituency will be held on November 13.