TIRUCHIRAPALLI: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi today made a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he does not listen to views of the people.
"The ruler has to listen to the voice of people," he said addressing a public meeting got up to celebrate the birth centenary of late K Kamaraj, a chief minister of the state to become AICC president later.
Narrating an anecdote, he said it was necessary for a ruler to give a hearing to everything around, "The strong and faint ones from all sides and not just the loudest."
He also hit out at the Jayalalithaa Government for the first time in recent months saying it was not listening to the voice of people.
In a veiled criticism of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, he said "Today your leaders in Tamil Nadu are not listening to you because they have power they think they do not need to listen. They even do not step out of their house."
He also alleged that Dalits in Tamil Nadu were "denied justice".
Beginning his speech with the salutary 'vanakkam' in Tamil, he lauded Kamaraj for his services to the nation, including building 13,000 schools in Tamil Nadu and initiating the noon meal scheme for students.
The entire city here was decked up with decorative arches, flex banners, and party flags welcoming Gandhi, on his first visit to the state since last year Lok Sabha elections.
Thousands of party workers from across the state turned up for the meet held as part of the birth anniversary celebrations of party stalwart Kamaraj at the "G corner grounds" here braving heavy rains accompanied by strong wind.
TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan, former union ministers P Chidambaram and Sudarsana Natchiappan, AICC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik were among those present.
After the party split in November last year with the exit of G K Vasan, who floated his own Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar), this is the first big ticket meeting held by the Congress state unit.