Special treatment to Kangra, if Cong forms govt in Himachal: Rahul

Ambika Sharma/Lalit Mohan 

Tribune News Service

Paonta Sahib/Nagrota, November 6

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling his promise to provide two crore jobs to youth each year.

Addressing a public rally in Paonta Sahib, Rahul said China provided 50,000 jobs in 24 hours while the Modi government had cheated the youth by barely providing 450 jobs in three years. 

Rahul said Modi has his own interpretation of a saying from the Bhagvad Gita. He alleged Modi believes in “eating up the fruits of others' labour”.

He said: "Gita says do your work and don't worry about the fruits of your labour but Modiji's interpretation is eating up the fruits of others labour and he does not worry about working,”

Rahul's remarks came after the Prime Minister on Saturday said the Congress accepted defeat in Himachal Pradesh and will not return to power here in near future.

He said the GST and demonitisation was causing maximum hardships to a common man.

He said November 8, the day demonitisation policy was implemented, would be called a ‘black day’ in the history of the country. He alleged that the Modi government was overlooking corruption in the BJP ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, where the deaths of 50 people have failed to get any attention of the government.

He said Himachal was much ahead in development as compared to Gujarat where the farmers land has been mortgaged.

He said the UPA government had set aside Rs 35,000 crore for MGNREGS where the poor had benefitted but the NDA gave away this amount for manufacturing Nano cars.

He also raised questions over the enormous rise in the turnover of BJP chief Amit Shah's son's company income and asked where was the black money, which demonitisation was supposed to unearth.

At Nagrota Bagwan in Kangra, Rahul Gandhi said that the Kangra region would be given a special treatment if the Congress was voted to power in Himachal.

He supported the work done by the Congress in Himachal under Chief Minister Virbhara Singh. He said: “My grandmother Indira Gandhi used to say that there are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Virbhadra Singh is of the first category, while the PM is of second.” 

He said a NITI Aayog report says that Himachal Pradesh was the least corrupt state in the country and India Today magazine has ranked Himachal at the top in health and education sectors. Also, the state has been 99 per cent electrified, he said.

He said Virbhadra Singh worked for the people and generated employment in the state.

He said: “The Congress government in Himachal provided jobs to 70,000 people, while in Gujarat only 10,000 got jobs.”

He said: “Gujarat closed the schools, while Himachal opened them.”

Critising the BJP government, he said: “What about Vyapam scam in MP,  Lalit Modi investments in Rajasthan and the corruption of Badals.”

He also hit out at the former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal saying that his son Anurag Thakur was removed from the BCCI by the Supreme Court, which was not a small thing, alleging that the Himarpur MP was also involved in corruption in the HPCA .

He questioned how did BJP chief Amit Shah’s son company grew from 50,000 to 80 crore.

He asked, “Why loans worth Rs 1.10 lakh crore of corporates were written off and where was the black money that came out of demonetization.”

He said due to the note ban, the state suffered heavy loss in horticulture, agriculture and tourism sectors.

He said the 2,000 crore Apple industry was also hit because of the note ban.