Rahul: Will counter China with ‘Made in Ludhiana’

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 15

Congress president Rahul Gandhi onWednesday promised to revive the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in cities like Ludhiana. “Without ‘Made in Ludhiana’, Indian can never meet the challenge of ‘Made in China’,” he said.

Rahul slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “ruining” the Indian economy. Demonetisation and GST (that he labelled as Gabbar Singh Tax) have weakened the economy, he said, while addressing a gathering at Mullanpur here. He alleged that demonetisation was a ploy to favour the rich and selected few.

Stressing on Nyay scheme, he said it was not only for the poor as it would help jumpstart the businesses and improve the spending power of the lower strata. “Following demonetisation, the purchasing capacity has dwindled, factories were shut down and workers laid off. But once Nyay is implemented, the spending power of the people will improve, which in turn will give a boost to the economy.”

Rahul alleged that Modi had waived huge loans of Rs 5.55 lakh crore of 15 big business houses. The Congress manifesto clearly mentioned two big challenges in the country – unemployment and farmers’ miserable condition, he said, adding that employment could be generated only by empowering SMEs.

Accompanied by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, party’s Punjab affairs incharge Asha Kumari and other party leaders, Rahul appealed to the people to make Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu victorious with a big margin and said Bittu would be given a suitable responsibility in the next UPA government.

Protest at Bargari rally 

• A group of protesters, led by Sikh radical leader Jaswinder Singh Sahuke, gathered at a chowk near Rahul Gandhi’s rally venue. They waved black flags at his cavalcade. 
• They were protesting against the Congress for failing to arrest culprits in sacrilege cases and “playing politics” over the issue. They alleged that all accused arrested in the sacrilege cases were out on bail.
• Congress leaders referred to the place as ‘Bargari Sahib’, a clear indication of cementing the sacrilege politics. 
• Leaders, including ex-minister Lal Singh, MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon and Power Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar, refered to their opponents as “paapi”, since they failed to probe the incident and bring the culprits to book.
• Rahul Gandhi had the crowds in splits as he said that only the women supporters were cheering for him, so the money under the Nyay scheme would go only in their accounts and men would have to ask them for money.
• Since strong winds in the morning blew away the pandal set up for the gathering, the crowd braved the sweltering heat for hours to listen to the leaders.
• As soon as Rahul arrived, almost all MLAs and local leaders — Kangar, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Darshan Singh Brar, Rahul Kuku, Kushaldeep Singh, Surjit Singh Lohgarh, Karan Kaur Brar — were given about a minute’s audience with him on stage.
• Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh was also present on the stage and seen managing affairs.

Rahul politicising grave issue: SAD

Bathinda: Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia and DSGMC chief Manjinder Singh Sirsa flayed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for addressing a rally at Bargari with an aim to draw political mileage out of the serious issue of sacrilege. Harsimrat Badal said, “Rahul has not regretted the burning of gurdwaras in 1984 in Delhi. He has not even uttered a word of regret for 80 sacrilege cases that took place in Punjab under the Congress rule in the past two years.”