Modi's truth on people's radar: Priyanka in Punjab

Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 14

Mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for suggesting that cloud cover helped IAF planes evade Pakistani radars during the Balakot airstrikes, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi today said the truth about the PM had come on the people’s radar and it was time for him to put his own radar on the unfulfilled promises.

In her maiden political rally in Punjab, she addressed a rally in support of Congress candidate Amarinder Singh Raja Warring here.

Attired in an off-white Punjabi salwar-kameez, Priyanka began her speech with “Bole So Nihal”, drawing loud chants of “Sat Sri Akal” from the crowd, before going on to deliver a few lines in Punjabi.

She said, “Mera gharwala Punjabi hai. Har musibat da samna una ne muskurande hoye kita. Main Punjabiyan di dharti te Punjabi kaum nu salam kardi haan, Punjabi kaum har mushkil da samna dat ke kardi hai te sada khush rehke chardi kala vich rehndi hain. (My husband is a Punjabi. He countered all the problems with a smile on his face. I salute the land of Punjabis as also the Punjabi community. Punjabis are known for their valour and their ability to remain happy in all circumstances. I have shown off enough of my Punjabi skills and now my speech would be in Hindi.”

In a veiled reference to the dust storm that forced the PM to wrap up his speech yesterday, she said, “I have heard that the PM addressed a rally at the same venue and continued spinning out his lies, but the skies of Bathinda gave him a befitting reply.”

Priyanka was accompanied by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who appealed to “teach the arrogant Harsimrat Badal (the SAD candidate from Bathinda) a lesson for the Akalis’ misdeeds”.

Priyanka also cornered the Akalis on the issues of sacrilege, drug abuse and 10 years of “misrule” in the state. Pinning Modi’s “blatant lies and falsehoods”, Priyanka said, “Hearing him, one would think that nothing has been done in the last 70 years and all the development in this country has taken place in the last five years.”

Reeling out the long list of Modi’s failed promises, Priyanka pointed out that not a single person had got the promised Rs 15 lakh, farmers’ income had not doubled, nor had inflation come down. Far from generating two crore jobs a year, five crore people lost their jobs under the NDA regime, with 24 lakh government posts lying vacant and 50 lakh jobs lost in demonetisation alone, she added.

As many as 12,000 aggrieved debt-ridden farmers had committed suicide during the Modi rule and farmers were not getting remunerative prices for their crops, observed Priyanka, adding that the PM refused to spare even five minutes to listen to the woes of the farmers, who came from all over the country to lodge their protest in Delhi.

Lambasting the Akalis for “suppressing and victimising the people of Punjab and destroying generations”, Priyanka alleged that they had “handed over the state” to drug, liquor, sand and transport mafia during their 10-year rule, pointing out that when Rahul Gandhi had raised the issue of drugs before the Assembly elections, they had ridiculed him, only to be exposed later.

Describing Punjab as the land of the Gurus, Priyanka said those who desecrated Sri Guru Granth Sahib were destroying the soul of Punjab, a sin that the Akalis had committed. “While Baba Nanak always said ‘tera tera’, for the BJP and SAD, it had always been a case of ‘mera mera’,” she said.

Says PM playing politics over balakot

Pathankot: AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi took out a roadshow in Pathankot giving a boost to the campaign of Gurdaspur Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar. Priyanka was accompanied by CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Jakhar atop a mini truck. The roadshow commenced from Bhagat Singh chowk and culminated at Balmiki chowk. 

Earlier speaking to the media at Chakki flyover, Priyanka said PM Modi was playing politics over the Balakot air strikes. “The BJP should understand that the sacrifices made by Army men at our borders should be respected. However, the party is more content in taking political mileage from these sacrifices. The strikes were politicised to the extent that the BJP is taking mileage from these too. The BJP is sending the message that the defence forces are being controlled by the party, which is blatantly wrong. I even have doubts about the nationalist feelings being propagated by Modi. These feelings and sentiments are being used to sway the voters,” she said. She added that the BJP was shrewdly using the Balakot strikes to its advantage. 

Rahul my guru, says Warring

• In his address, Bathinda candidate Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called Congress president Rahul Gandhi as his “guru”.  

• Warring himself drove Priyanka’s car while she was on her way back.

• Priyanka while leaving the rally venue sat on her car’s window to wave to the crowd on either sides of the road.

• Warring’s wife Amrita and daughter Aekom were present. 

• Priyanka was felicitated by the state leadership, who presented her a photograph of Takht. 

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"Priyanka claims that her brother practices the politics of truth. I would like to ask her if the justification of the 1984 genocide with remarks like ‘hua to hua’ was politics of truth. It is condemnable that the Congress leader has failed to apologise for the actions of her party men. " — Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Akali Dal