The Congress chief sharply criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi for skipping the crucial all-party meeting to discuss the Pahalgam attack
NEW DELHI/JAIPUR — The leader of the main opposition in the country has questioned the source of the wealth accumulated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent body of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said it was pertinent to ask the RSS about the source of its amassed assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The RSS must come out clean on where all that money came from, he said.
“Main RSS ke logon se poochana chaahata hoon – aap log har shahr mein karodon rupee kee jaayadaad bana rahe hain, kaee lakh acres zameenen le rahe hain aur badee-badee imaaraten khadee kar rahe hain… ye sab kahaan se aa raha hai?” (I want to ask the RSS people – you people are purchasing properties worth crores of rupees in every city, taking over lakhs of acres of land and building huge buildings… where is all this coming from?)
Kharge was addressing the party’s ‘Samvidhan Bachao Rally’ in Jaipur on Monday.
Commenting on the recent Pahalgam attack, the Congress chief sharply criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for skipping the crucial all-party meeting to discuss the tragedy. Kharge said the latter is always busy with the election programmes across the country.
“It is unfortunate for the country that when its self-respect was attacked in Pahalgam, the prime minister was busy delivering an election speech in Bihar. Leaders of all parties attended the crucial meeting, but it is saddening that PM Modi did not. Was Bihar so far away? He should have come to the meeting, shared his plan, and told us how we could help,” the Congress president said.
“Modi prioritised the Bihar election rally over the country,” he said.
Kharge began his speech by paying tributes to the victims of the Pahalgam attack and said that the entire country was united to defend and safeguard its unity and integrity. He said Congress has a record and history of its leaders sacrificing their lives for the nation. He challenged the BJP, asking whether it had any record of such a great sacrifice for the nation.
Taking a dig at the BJP’s claims of uniting the Hindu society, he referred to the incident of a former BJP legislator washing a temple with Ganga Jal after the Dalit Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Tika Ram Jully, paid obeisance there. “If Hindus are one, why are you humiliating the Dalits?” he asked the BJP, while accusing its leaders of sheer hypocrisy. “On the one hand, leaders like Amit Shah claim to have food with Dalits, and on the other, some of their leaders clean the temple after a Dalit leader’s visit,” he said.
Referring to the marginalisation of the Dalits, he pointed out that the same Dalits who dig wells and ponds are not allowed to drink water from them. In the same way, he said, people who carve out idols of gods are not allowed to worship them.
He also referred to the persecution of Dalits, citing the three murders of Dalits where the culprits were not arrested. He pointed out that these murders took place in the chief minister’s assembly constituency.
The Congress president said BJP leaders were enjoying power without contributing anything worthwhile to the country’s freedom movement. He said it was because of Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s constitution that Modi could become prime minister and someone like him (Kharge), who is a mill worker’s son, could become the Congress president and the Leader of the Opposition.
Kharge accused the BJP government of trying to intimidate the opposition, particularly the Congress. He cited the example of Raipur and Ahmedabad sessions of the party. “When Congress organised the Raipur session, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) started raiding the leaders involved in the session’s preparations. After the successful conclusion of the Ahmedabad session, the ED filed a charge sheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi (in the National Herald case), he pointed out.
Describing the BJP government as weak, he said it was standing on the crutches of Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar. He said the moment anyone decides to pull out, the government will collapse.
Accusing the BJP of trying to fool the country’s people, he warned it that it cannot fool them always. “You may be able to fool some people some time, you may be able to fool some people all the time and you may be able to fool all the people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” he cautioned the BJP.
Kharge also reminded people of Modi’s 12 lies. Although Modi has uttered hundreds of lies, but he wanted to mention 12 prominent lies which include bringing back black money within 100 days, depositing Rs 15 lakh each in every Indian’s bank account, generating two crore jobs every year, making petrol, diesel and LPG cheaper, cleaning the holy Ganga by 2022, doubling the income of farmers, providing a home to every Indian by 2022, running a bullet train by 2022, providing legal guarantee for the MSP, finishing inflation, setting up factories under the ‘Make in India’ programme and providing Rs 1.25 lakh crore package to Bihar.
Those present at the rally included party leaders KC Venugopal, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Ashok Gehlot, Govind Singh Dotasra, Tika Ram Jully, Jitendra Singh, Sachin Pilot, CP Joshi and others.
