ATHANI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday for invoking the name of 12th century social reformer Basavaeshwara. He accused Modi of failing to walk the talk on Basaveshwara’s vachanas (teachings).Hitting back at Modi, who had quoted the ‘Vachanas’ of Basaveshwara in Parliament as well as at his recent rally in Mysuru, Rahul said Modi had violated every principle Basaveshwara preached and he had no moral right to invoke Basaveshwara’s name to woo the people.
Addressing a public rally as part of his second phase of Janaashirwada Yatre at Athani town, Rahul repeatedly quoted Basaveshwara, who is revered by the dominant Lingayat community in the region, to attack Modi. “Basaveshwara had said five things — don’t indulge in theft, don’t indulge in violence, do not lie, do not boast about your self and don’t spread anger,” Rahul said and alleged that Modi had been misleading the people about he adhering to all the five principles.
Taking exception to Modi’s allegation of corruption against Siddaramaiah government, Rahul said the previous BJP government had earned notoriety as Yeddyurappa and four other ministers from his government had gone to jail for corruption.
He said though there were untoward incidents and the crime rate was going up in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Modi and BJP president Amit Shah were blowing up minor issues of Karnataka.
Rahul described Modi as a liar as he had assured of giving good governance, bringing back all the black money deposited in foreign banks by Indians and depositing Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s bank account, and most importantly, creating 2 crore jobs annually.As far as Nirav Modi’s case is concerned, he said Modi is only giving assurance of initiating action.