Dehradun, Feb 23: Taking a jibe at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said Gujarat was developed by the people, and added that the BJP leaders are least serious about the issue of corruption.
In an apparent reference to Modi, Rahul said, “There is a man who speaks about Gujarat in the country and claims that he made the state what it is today. But when I talk about progress, I don’t talk about myself. I talk about you; the progress is because of me. The person is forgetting that Gujarat is made by people, not him.”
“If he ( Modi) goes amidst the people of Gujarat, he will realise the people, the women, the dalits of Gujarat have contributed towards the development in Gujarat,” he added.
Rahul also cornered the BJP on the issue of corruption and said that the BJP leaders talk a lot about corruption but it was the Congress which introduced the biggest weapon against corruption in the country.
“We introduced the Lokpal Bill in the parliament. Our leaders spoke to the opposition and their sought help on the Lokpal Bill. Still there are six bills are pending against corruption. But they are not interested on supporting us on this issue,” he said.
Rahul also attacked the BJP for claiming the credit of introducing computers and telephone in the country.
“When my father Rajiv Gandhi talked about computers in the 80s, but the opposition said that the nation does not want computer. They said the introduction of computers will lead to unemployment in the country,” he said.
“But today, they talk about IT revolution. And late Pramod Mahajan even said that it was the BJP which brought computers and telecom in the country. This is all lie. They give big and ambitious speeches only but lack vision,” he added.
Rahul said the entire nation stood behind Uttarakhand and supported the state during the crisis which hit it.
“I saw the whole country supporting it. There is lot of love among you all. But there are certain elements, which are hell bent on dividing this nation. They make people fight among each other,” he said.
“Today, I met with the Chief Minister. We spoke about relief and reconstruction in the state. He assured me that before the tourist season, the infrastructure will be reconstructed. The central government is too helping the state. They have sent around 7000 crores rupees for the development of the state,” he added.
He praised the efforts of the armed forces during the rescue operations in Uttarakhand.
“When the destruction struck, who helped you all the most? It was the Army, who helped you all. We will never forget their efforts. The Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi have fulfilled their demand,” he said.
Rahul also said that women are the backbone of this country and asserted that unless they strengthened, India will not become a superpower.
Rahul Gandhi accused BJP of practicing “politics of blood” by pitting one religion against another and one caste against another to come to power at any cost, escalating the Congress attack against the opposition party.
The Congress Vice President also said that UPA government was trying to bring anti-graft ordinances after the opposition “blocked” the passage of these bills in Parliament.
“It(BJP) practices politics of blood. They don’t see anything but power.”
