‘Cong hides behind burqa of secularism’
Addressing his first public rally after becoming the BJP’s campaign chief, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Congress of hiding behind a veil of secularism to cover its failures.
Mr Modi said that the solution to all problems in the country is to set it “free from the Congress”. The leader was speaking at Fergusson College in Pune.
“The dynastic politics followed by the Congress in the last 60 years has completely crushed the hopes and aspirations of the common man. The Congress has taken the people of this country for granted. They feel that all they have to do is win elections by appeasing one or the other section of society,” Mr Modi said.
The BJP campaign chief also questioned how the rupee kept falling when the Prime Minister of the country was an economist. He said that currencies of countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka were not affected like that of India’s. “Unless we free this country from the Congress, there won’t be any solution to our problems,” he said.
Facing criticism from his opponents for defending his government over the 2002 Gujarat riots, Mr Modi said, “Whenever the Congress is faced with a challenge — whether it is corruption, price rise, directives from the Supreme Court, or a minister being jailed, or the rape of girls or an atmosphere of insecurity — they do not answer people. The moment there is a crisis, they wear a burqa (veil) of secularism and hide in a bunker,” he said.
The BJP leader said that the people of the country and the media should ask the Congress about its 35-year-old promise of removing poverty from the country. Without naming Rahul Gandhi, Mr Modi spoke of how Congress leaders’ children were going to the huts of poor people and “showing off” their poverty as if it was their achievement.
Speaking on the food security scheme, he said that it was introduced because the Congress had realised that under its rule, people have become poorer and couldn’t afford even two square meals.
He also asked as to why the government was in a hurry to bring the ordinance instead of waiting for the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
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