Rahul Gandhi lauds IAF pilots for Pok air strike

Congress president Rahul Gandhi hailed Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots for the surgical strike in PoK but slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly failing to fulfil his promise of jobs in the past five years.

Gandhi congratulated IAF in the beginning of his speech at a rally here, attended by nearly one lakh people, hours after the IAF fighters carried out the operation in Pakistan.

He, however, did not say anything else about the operation.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to provide jobs. Did he fulfil his promise? He promised to deposit Rs. 15 lakh. But we don’t promise what we can’t fulfil. Before Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Chattishgarh and Madhya Pradesh, I made a promise to waive farm loans within 10 days after coming to power. We fulfilled the promise in two-days. Narendra Modi says farm loan can’t be waived as we don’t have money. If we don’t have money, how can he allow big businessmen like Anil Ambani, Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi to escape after taking loans from our banks?” Rahul said. 

MUST READ | Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE - Catch the latest updates here 

“BJP and RSS’s aim is to create a rift and fight between communities and religion and Modi will allow his 15-20 big businessmen friends to loot the country,” Gandhi said.

Exuding confidence that Congress would bounce back to power after the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, Rahul promised to waive education and farm loan in Assam as soon as it comes back to power at the Centre.

"BJP and RSS want to impose one ideology on all and so there is constant onslaughts on other communities and religion. We stand for the unique Indian diverse culture and unity. We will save and protect the country from the onslaughts. There is a dangerous attack on the diverse culture, language and your history in the Northeast, " he said adding, "Congress will definitely defeat BJP's design to make India of a single ideology and come back to power. We have taken the decision regarding a guaranteed minimum income to every bank accounts as soon as we come back to power. We will make it a national commitment to solve Assam's annual flood problem, restore special state status to Assam, restore the Northeast Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, give a guaranteed minimum wage to tea garden workers in Assam and re-open the closed paper mills in Jagiroad and Cachar," he said.

Rahul also visited a private hospital here and met two youths, who were injured in police firing in Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday. The two protesters were shot at by security forces when they allegedly marched towards Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu’s residence to attack it.