‘Red diary’ hides black deeds: Shah attacks CM Gehlot in Rajasthan
Amit Shah said the BJP government fulfilled the long-pending demand of farmers and constituted a separate ministry for cooperative societies.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday demanded the resignation of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot over a “red diary” which, he alleged, contained details of corruption and “black deeds” of the state government.
The home minister was addressing a “Sahakar Kisan Sammelan” (a meet of farmers under co-operatives) in Gangpur city in poll-bound Rajasthan.
At the beginning of Shah’s address, some people started raising slogans against the BJP-led government at the Centre, following which, Shah said, “I want to tell Gehlot saab that you will achieve nothing by sending some people to shout slogans. If there is any shame left in him, he should resign over the ‘red diary’ issue and enter the election fray...”
In August, sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Guha claimed that he had retrieved the “red diary” on Gehlot’s insistence from Congress leader Dharmendra Rathore’s house during income tax raids in July 2020, which has details of the chief minister’s financial transactions. Gehlot has, however, dismissed the allegations, saying no such red diary existed.
“Nowadays Gehlot saab is very afraid of the colour red. The colour of the diary is red, but black deeds are hidden in it. The red diary has details of multi-crore corruption,” the union minister said.
During the event, Shah also talked about the schemes launched by the Centre for the benefit of farmers.
“During the Congress regime, the agriculture budget was ₹22,000 crore and the Narendra Modi government raised it by six times in nine years to ₹125,000 crore,” he said.
Shah, who also holds the Cooperation portfolio, said the BJP government fulfilled the long-pending demand of farmers and constituted a separate ministry for cooperative societies.
“Ever since Modiji became the prime minister, he is doing work that has not been done before,” the union minister added.
On the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon, Shah said, “A few days ago, our Chandrayaan reached the south pole of the Moon waving the tricolour. In a way, new energy, new faith has been infused in the entire country. The south pole of the Moon remained a mystery. India has become the first country to reach the south pole. It is a matter of pride for the entire country.”
Reacting to Shah’s statements, Rajasthan Congress spokesperson RC Chouhdary said that the BJP government at the Centre has failed to deliver the promises made to the public. He said, “While campaigning in 2018, the prime minister (Narendra Modi) had promised to give national status to the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project and doubling farmers’ income, but unfortunately, instead of that the NDA government has increased the production cost...”
Talking about the three contentious agriculture laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020; and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 – which were repealed by the Centre in 2021, Choudhary said, “Around 750 farmers lost their lives because of agitation over the three farm laws.”
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