Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday promised special status to states in northeast and an industrial policy for the region.
Addressing three election rallies, one in Nagaland and two in Assam, Gandhi lashed out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making false promises.
“Five years ago, Modi made different promises in each of his public meetings. Do you remember he promised to put Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s bank accounts? Did you get any amount transferred to your account?” he asked the public at a rally in Bokakhat in Assam.
Gandhi was canvassing for Gaurav Gogoi, the sitting Congress MP from Kaliabor seat. Gogoi is the son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
“Nearly 20% of our population earns less than Rs 12,000 per month. As soon as our government is formed we will put names of all these families in a list and will deposit Rs 72,000 each year into their bank accounts,” he repeated the promise made in the Congress manifesto.
“For those who ask us from where will we get the money to implement the scheme, let me tell you that the amounts would come from pockets of people like Anil Ambani who made Rs 30,000 crores of Indian Air Force money,” added Gandhi.
{{/usCountry}}“For those who ask us from where will we get the money to implement the scheme, let me tell you that the amounts would come from pockets of people like Anil Ambani who made Rs 30,000 crores of Indian Air Force money,” added Gandhi.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress president accused the NDA government of taking away special privileges provided by earlier Congress governments to the northeast and promised to bring them back.
“There are 22 lakh government jobs which are lying vacant now. We will fill them in one year. We will also give special status to northeast states, an industrial policy for the region and a new planning commission,” he said.
“The slogan of ‘acche din ayenge’ (good times will come) is passé. The new slogan is ‘chowkidar chor hai’ (the watchman is the thief). The country is witnessing the worst unemployment rate in the past 45 years,” Gandhi added.
Accusing the Centre of attacking northeast with the now-lapsed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Congress president promised not to let the legislation pass in Parliament.
“Citizenship Amendment Bill is an attack on your language, thought and independence. Congress will not let it pass in parliament. We do what we say, and don’t tell lies like them (BJP),” he said.
He said that the fight in the upcoming elections was a fight between two different ideologies.
“On one side is Narendra Modi, RSS and BJP. They want to divide the nation. Wherever they go, they spread hatred. On the other side is the Congress, we unite the country and spread brotherhood and love. We strengthen the country. The fight is between these two,” he said.
Earlier Gandhi addressed a rally in Dimapur to drum up support for KL Chisi, the Congress candidate for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland. His third rally of the day was at Lakhimpur in Assam.