Modi owes apology for farmers deaths, demonization: Rahul Gandhi on PM’s Shivaji statue apology

Sangli (Maharashtra): Holding the Prime Minister responsible for the collapse of the statue of Shiva Ji Maharaj, Congress leaders today accused Modi of not only insulting Shivaji, but Maharashtra and the entire India.

Addressing a function to pay tributes to veteran Congress leader Dr Patangarao Kadam here today, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge blamed the RSS people for the poor construction of the statue, which eventually led to its collapse. He alleged that the RSS was intruding into the educational institutions of the country and was changing the syllabus. He said, the RSS was also trying to change the Constitution, which the Congress party will not let it do.

Speaking on the occasion, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, asked the Prime Minister that he should explain why he had apologized to people over the collapse of Shivaji’s statue. He said whether it was because of providing the contract to a wrong person belonging to the RSS, or because there was corruption involved during the construction of the statue.

He said Modi also owed an apology to farmers for the black laws as 700 farmers had been martyred during the protests against these laws. He said, the PM also owed an apology for the demonetization and wrong implementation of the GST regime.

He alleged that under Modi’s regime, merit was no criterion and the only criterion was affiliation with the RSS, whether for appointment in the Election Commission, the legal system, or the education system.

Gandhi said it was a battle of ideology with the Congress and its alliance partners on one side and the BJP and the RSS on the other side. He said, while the Congress spread love and harmony and united people, the BJP was spreading hatred and violence and dividing people.

The Leader of the Opposition praised the people of Maharashtra, saying that they had the Congress DNA in them. He said Maharashtra was the fountainhead of the Congress ideology.

Paying tributes to Chhatrapati Shiva ji, Shahu ji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, and Dr BR Ambedkar, he said, the Congress believed in and followed their ideology. He said the Constitution of India carried the ideology of such great people who come from Maharashtra.

He alleged that the BJP was trying to finish the Constitution and they were continuously attacking it in one way or the other.

Gandhi reiterated his commitment to carrying out the caste census in the country. He said, while the BJP and the RSS had earlier opposed the caste census, they had now accepted that it was important. He said the caste census is like a snapshot of the state of affairs in the country to find out who controls the resources of the country and who is benefitting and who is not.

He accused the Prime Minister of working only for Adani and Ambani, saying they were getting all the benefits in the current regime, while the small and medium businesses had been destroyed due to demonetization and wrong implementation of the GST regime.

He said, the widespread unemployment in the country was because of Modi’s policies of favoring a select few billionaire capitalists at the cost of small and medium industries, which are the real job producers.

The senior Congress leader referred to the massive imports from China. He said, that instead of ‘made in China’ goods, these should be made in Maharashtra and India. He said, only small and medium industries can manufacture such goods, which were being imported from China. But these industries were destroyed to help the billionaires. He said, only a group of few billionaires was getting benefitted, as they only were importing Chinese goods and making huge profits at the cost of local industries.

Both Kharge and Gandhi paid glowing tributes to Dr Kadam, saying he had made an unparalleled contribution not only to the Congress party but to the welfare of the state and the country also.

Those present included Sharad Pawar, Ramesh Chennithala, Nana Patole, and others.