Rahul slams BJP on terrorism, woos aam admi in Assam

Guwahati: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi attacked Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) on issue of terrorism and wooed the aam aadmi (common man) during his election campaign rallies in Assam.

“The Congress, when it had assumed power five years ago, had promised only one thing and that it would stand up for the poor, deprived and Dalits and the Congress has kept its promise to the fullest,” Rahul said, addressing meetings at Lakhimpur, Kaliabar, Mangaldai and Dhubri.

Highlighting the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government’s achievements, he said, “The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, extended across the country, was the biggest-ever employment guarantee scheme launched in any country.”

He also underlined the farmers’ loan exemption by the UPA, extension of mid-day meal scheme to all government schools in the country and getting land rights for the Adivasis (tribals) as special achievements of the UPA in keeping its promise to the aam aadmi.

There is no dearth of funds with the Central Government for developmental activities. But the states, which had non-Congress governments missed out a substantial part of these benefits as the state governments did not percolate the benefits to the people,” Rahul said.

“But as Assam has the Congress in power, it reaped rich benefits,” he pointed out.

Taking a shot at the BJP for its 'India Shining' slogan before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the young parliamentarian said, “The BJP’s India Shining was based on the shine of an elite class. But people saw through the hollowness of their slogan and voted them out.”

“For the Congress, India will shine only when not a single person was left in the grips of poverty,” he said.

Slamming the BJP for allegedly playing divisive politics along religious lines, Rahul said, “The BJP does no real work but comes out with slogans to try and cover up their inefficiency.”

The Congress General Secretary also took on BJP's prime ministerial candidate over the Kandhahar plane hijack issue and said that it was during the BJP-led NDA rule when the government submitted before the terrorists.

“The BJP is calling Dr Manmohan Singh a weak prime minister. But during the NDA rule, the union home minister did not even know that his counterpart in the external affairs ministry was releasing terrorists to ensure release of civilian hostages," he added.