Rahul calls Modi a 'loudspeaker' of rich businessmen

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday of being a "loudspeaker for Adani and Ambani" and alleged that he only talked about big businessmen and had taken out money from the pockets of the poor to give away to his "rich friends".

Addressing his first rally here for the October 21 Haryana Assembly polls, Gandhi also attacked Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, alleging that both he and Modi did not talk about the poor and only thought about the welfare of "rich" businessmen.

He also hit out at the media, saying, "They will show the worshipping of the Rafale (fighter jet), but would not talk about the theft in it."

"Narendra Modi is the loudspeaker of Ambani and Adani as he only talks about them all day.

"Modi and Khattar are taking away your money and giving it to their 15 rich friends," Gandhi alleged.

"You call yourselves nationalists, why are you giving away India's capital to your rich friends? Why are they selling PSUs to their rich friends?," he asked.

"Modi's work is to divert your attention from the real issues, so you do not ask any questions of them," he said.

Accusing Modi of waiving Rs 5.50 lakh crore of 15 rich businessmen, Gandhi alleged that the media did not highlight the real issues.

"There is so much unemployment and they talk of Bollywood, the moon. They will show the worshipping of the Rafale (fighter jet) but will not talk about the theft in it.... There is shooting in Jim Corbett (National Park) but Modi will not say anything about what farmers want," he said, training his guns on the media.

Gandhi also targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing them of dividing the country and its people on the basis of caste, religion and region like the British, and said the Congress united people.

"The Congress is the party for everyone and our job is to unite people, while the BJP-RSS, like the British, divide the country and its people and make them fight each other. Wherever they go, they make people fight on the basis of caste, religion, region," he said.

Gandhi also accused the prime minister of taking poor people's money and giving it to rich businessmen.

Hitting out at Modi and Khattar, he said, "When you listen to Modiji and Khattarji's speeches these days, you get to hear false promises one after another."

While the prime minister talked about his "mann ki baat", he would instead talk of "kaam Ki baat", the Congress leader said as he sought public support for his party to regain power in Haryana.

The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP government in Haryana in the October 21 polls.

Gandhi claimed that whatever promises he had made so far, he had fulfilled like those in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, besides Karnataka.

"Whatever we say from the stage, we do that. I promise that the Gurgaon-Alwar railway line will be a reality, the Nuh engineering college will be made a university. The expansion of the local lake and the Mewat canal will be done once a Congress government is formed in Haryana," he said.

Lamenting that the country's economy was shattered under the Modi government, Gandhi said to jump-start the economy, money was needed to be put in the pockets of the poor and farmers and the Congress's "Nyay" scheme, proposed during the Lok Sabha polls held in April-May, was a step in this direction.

"You will see Modi only with (US President Donald) Trump and (industrialist) Ambani, but you will never see him with farmers," he said.

Gandhi warned of a serious economic situation in the country in the coming days as Modi, he alleged, was giving away all the money taken from the poor to rich businessmen, who were fleeing abroad with it.

"The economy is destroyed. You ask the small and medium traders and they will say that they have been destroyed," he said, adding that the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which he dubbed as the "Gabbar Singh Tax", had demolished businesses.

Gandhi said post demonetisation, it was only the poor who were standing in the queues in front of banks, while big businessmen like the Ambanis were not.

"Crores of money were taken out from your pockets and put in the pockets of Adani and Ambani," he said.