Modi prostrates before Basavanna, but fails to follow him - Cong chief

Kolar/Chikkaballapur Apr 7 (DHNS): Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on his BJP counterpart Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, saying they had faltered in taking the country forward, being puppets in the RSS' hands.

Rahul called the Assembly elections a clash between the divisive agenda of the BJP-RSS and the unifying ideology of the Congress, addressing the series of rallies in the twin districts.

The Congress chief highlighted what he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's double standards, saying he prostrates before Basavanna's statues, but his words and deeds do not match, much against the saint poet's teachings. Modi is silent even when one of his ministers talks about changing the Constitution, he charged.

His party has always stood by tribals, farmers and the downtrodden, Rahul said. The prime minister's pre-election promises, including creation of 2 crore jobs and depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of each countrymen, he noted.

The taxpayers' money had been used to line the purses of the high and mighty, he said, citing the defrauding of banks by Nirav Modi and others to buttress his point. The prime minister had influenced members of friendly parties disrupt proceedings in Parliament, so as to avoid discussion on these issues, Rahul claimed.

While the Centre is not ready to waive farm loans, borrowings by 50 industrialists, to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh crore, had been written off. The Karnataka government, on the other hand, waived crop loans amounting to Rs 8,000 crore within 10 days of him (Rahul) discussing the issue with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and party leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge.

Another theme of his diatribe against the central government was the reported atrocities on dalits, saying people were living in fear in BJP-ruled states.

He also reiterated his charges on Chinese incursions into Indian territory, the allegations of graft in the Rafale warplane deal and those pertaining to ministers in the Modi Cabinet.

The Congress president claimed the BJP leaders were incompetent, had no sympathy for the poor and were not bothered to end the sufferings of the common man. He called upon his party leaders and workers to strive to defeat the BJP at the hustings.