The opposition Congress on Tuesday claimed that in the Lok Sabha elections next, the people of India would be on one side, and only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will be on the other side.
The Congress came out with this prediction through its national spokesperson and Congress MP from Kaliabor constituency in Assam Gaurav Gogoi while addressing media persons in Shillong on Tuesday where he termed the BJP-led NDA a “pro-rich” and anti-poor” government as he highlighted alleged scams and failures of the NDA government under the leadership of the present Prime Minister.
Gogoi who first attacked the Modi-led government on the alleged scam in the Rafale deal for purchasing fighter jets from France, recalled the hardships and sufferings that the people of the country had undergone during the demonetization process, price rise and a host of other issues.
“The PM conducted himself during the Rafael deal though he is not a defence expert. He (Modi) talked about protecting India but he managed to compromise the defence security by reducing 126 jets to 36 and compromised even further by giving contracts related to these fighter jets to an inexperienced company. In 2014, the NDA came up with the land bill to take land from farmers, followed by the Lalit gate scam in 2015. The demonetization exercise in 2016 was supposed to be an attack on the corrupt, but it benefited the corrupt. Young people continue to be unemployed and frustrated. Our society which is known for pluralism and for unity and diversity is being divided and fractured by the BJP,” Gogoi rued.
To a question, how confident the Congress is that scams and failures it brought out against the NDA government are sticks that can beat the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gogoi said, “All these issues would matter and the upcoming 2019 elections will be one where the people of India will be on one side, and the Prime Minister and Amit Shah will be on the other side. Modi speaks of the poor, but ends up helping the rich and the corrupt, where only crony capitalists are getting benefited. Nirav Modi an accused who has taken lot of money from Punjab National Bank had gone abroad and yet took a picture with the Prime Minister.”
On the purchase fighter jets Rafale from France, Gogoi questioned, “When the purchase of fighter jets was reduced from 126 to only 36 aircrafts on grounds of huge cost, then how the cost of per plane has increased from Rs 526 crore to Rs 1,670 crore? We want to know the details and the NDA government should not hide, and why they have not come out with any statement?”
The Congress leader also asked the NDA government not to be afraid of the Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe into the Rafale deal.