MATHURA, Sept 21: Launching a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “unkept promises”, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today said he was scripting his own downfall by alienating all sections and that farmers were now “abusing” and not criticising him.
He asked Congressmen to unite so that “when the downfall comes” it should be able to occupy the space that would be created by Modi’s “exit”.
“Modi promised good days to farmers. Now farmers are committing suicide. Wherever I go in the country, the farmers are abusing Modiji. They are not criticising but abusing. Youths are not getting jobs and despite making promises thrice, OROP has not been given yet.
“Modi is damaging himself much more than we can together inflict on him. We have to make our place. Modiji is bound to go down but when he goes, we have to fill that space. You may keep on attacking Modi but Modi is attacking himself much more,” Rahul said, inaugurating a convention of party leaders of Uttar Pradesh, the state where Congress has been relegated to fourth position after SP, BSP and BJP.
Despite promises of putting Rs 15 lakh of black money parked in foreign banks in every citizen’s account, nothing has been done so far, he said.
Congress has not been able to regain power in the key Hindi heartland state, which will have assembly polls in 2017, since 1989.
Giving a pep talk to Congress workers, Rahul invoked Steve Jobs’ efforts that revived the fortunes of a floundering Apple.
Describing Congress as a “family”, he said people with different voices debate ideas and work together in the party.
“Let there be talks between leaders and workers,” the Congress leader said, in an apparent message to partymen in the state for launching a cohesive and concerted effort to revive Congress in the state which sends 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.
“Party must work like Steve Jobs’ Apple and be open to all opinions and not just some leaders. We (Congress) allow people to have different ideologies, unlike the RSS,” he said.
“The Congress party is not like the RSS which guides the government. Every member’s voice is heard here unlike what happens under (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat,” Gandhi said at the meet, the party’s first major programme to deliberate on ways to galvanise it after the 2014 Lok Sabha poll debacle which saw its tally tumble to an abysmal 44.
No party candidate except for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul could win the last Lok Sabha polls from UP when a Modi wave swept the state. In the last assembly polls, the party’s tally stood at an unimpressive 28 out of the 403 seats. Rahul said Congress might be placed fourth in terms of seats in Uttar Pradesh, its ideology was “number 1”.
“It is unfortunate that our ideology that helped build the nation is weak in the heart of India (UP). Let’s bring that ideology to life once again and it will live through the country,” he said.
He said Modi and RSS were strengthening the Congress and giving a fresh lease of life to its ideology. “Modi is the opposite of Congress. Modi keeps Congress in focus. When we look at their ideology, we start focussing on our own.”
Sending a message to workers and leaders to shun differences at a time when organizational changes are planned in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi indicated it will be done in a manner which does not cause heartburn and exacerbate factionalism.
“I think of you as a family. When I was young, my father had the power and he could have silenced me but we used to converse. Sometimes I listened to him, sometimes he listened to me. This means there is place for everyone in this family whether we like some one or not. Nobody can be thrown out of the family,” he said. (PTI)
“If someone is not suited for one position, he takes another position best suited for him as all are part of the family,” he said.
Rahul visited the famous Banke Bihari temple at nearby Vrindavan before addressing the convention where several former Union ministers, state leaders, DCC presidents and state Congress office bearers were present.
Party leaders including PCC Chief Nirmal Khatri and CLP leader Pradip Mathur hailed the leadership of Rahul and said the way the Congress vice president led the fight against the land bill was a lesson for others. (PTI)
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