RAIPUR: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) want the rule of only one ideology in the country, it can never happen.
He was speaking here after launching a financial assistance scheme of the Chhattisgarh government for landless labourers of rural areas.
Gandhi also attacked the BJP saying the party and its ideology are taking India towards danger and added that division of the country is the biggest threat of that party.
“When they ask what has been done in 70 years, they do not insult Congress, but our farmers and labourers,” Gandhi said while referring to the BJP.
Gandhi arrived in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur on a day-long visit to his party-ruled state.
Apart from launching the scheme named ‘Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Bhoomihin Krishi Majdoor Nyay Yojana’ (RGGBKMNY), Gandhi laid the foundation stone of a memorial with an eternal flame, named ‘Chhattisgarh Amar Jawan Jyoti’, to be built in Mana Camp area here for soldiers and security personnel martyred in the line of duty.
He also laid the foundation stone of ‘Gandhi Sevagram’ ashram to be built in Nava Raipur, similar to the one in Wardha (Maharashtra).
Earlier, on his arrival at the Swami Vivekanand Airport in Raipur from New Delhi at around noon by a special aircraft, Gandhi was accorded a warm welcome by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his cabinet colleagues, MLAs and senior party leaders at the airport, a government official said.
This is Gandhi’s first visit to the state since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in the country in early 2020.
Under the RGGBKMNY, registered labourers in rural areas who do not possess agricultural land will be given financial assistance of Rs 6,000 per year in three installments.
Nearly 3.55 lakh landless families of labourers, barbers, blacksmiths, priests, forest produce collectors and shepherds, among others, will receive the first installment of Rs 2,000 on the occasion under the scheme, the official said.
The BJP continued to attack Rahul Gandhi on Thursday over his speech in Parliament, with Union minister Kiren Rijiju saying the Congress leader is used to behave like India’s “yuvraj” and now thinks that he is its king.
BJP vice president Baijayant Jay Panda mocked him saying that the “king of comedy is increasingly turning out to also be the prince of darkness”.
“Yes, of course the Constitution defines India as a union of states. No issue there, but to extrapolate from that to say India is ‘not a nation’ is not merely ludicrous, but downright sinister,” he said.
Gandhi had on Wednesday said the Congress smashed the idea of a king in 1947, but now it has come back and the ruling dispensation had created two Indias — one for the poor and the other for the rich.
Rijiju retorted to it saying that there was indeed two Indias and one of them includes those who go on foreign trips and “rave parties”.
“Two Indias are: 1.People enjoy high-class society life, attend rave parties, frequent vacation trip to foreign destinations and enjoy very colorful life. 2. People live simple life in India, remain with the needy people all the time, think Indian and follow Indian traditions,” he said in a tweet.
The Law Minister added, “Earlier he used to behave like India’s ‘Yuvraj’ and now he thinks he is the “King’ of India!” BJP spokesperson and Bihar government minister Shahnawaz Hussain also targetted Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi says that we have made huge strategic mistakes in J&K and in our foreign policy. Is he saying that going after terrorists and lifting of article 370 is a wrong policy? Why does he support the propaganda of Pakistan?” he said.
Speaking first from the Opposition side in Lok Sabha during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, he said that the government’s stand on China and Pakistan worked only to bring the two neighbouring countries together to work against India.
—PTI

Press Trust of India