KOZHIKODE: Mounting a strong attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed electoral bonds as the “biggest extortion racket on the planet” at a UDF rally on Monday in Kozhikode.
The Congress candidate in Wayanad also took a swipe at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for ‘sparing Modi’ and targeting him instead.
“The prime minister says the electoral bond scheme was designed to bring transparency to India’s political system, but the Supreme Court thinks it is illegal,” Rahul said.
He alleged that companies that donated to the BJP got contracts worth crores of rupees. “Twenty-two people have as much wealth as 70 crore people in India. This is Modi’s gift to India,” he added.
Rahul said he was hounded for speaking against the BJP and RSS. “I was interrogated by the ED for 57 hours. I spoke in Parliament, and the BJP got me removed from the House. Later, I was reinstated by the Supreme Court,” he added.
He then wondered aloud why the Modi government had not taken such harsh actions against Pinarayi. “When someone attacks the BJP, the party retaliates by sending the CBI, ED…. Why is the BJP not attacking the chief minister of Kerala? After all, two chief ministers [Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal] are in jail now,” he said.
“And when the BJP is destroying the Constitution, attacking democracy and dividing the country, why is the chief minister of Kerala attacking me?” he asked, adding that Pinarayi should set aside some time to attack the BJP and Modi as well.
The Congress leader’s second-phase campaign in Wayanad started earlier in the day with a road show at Sultan Bathery. Notably, the road show was held without the flags of any UDF parties. Instead, supporters lined up with balloons and placards.
“We did not get freedom from the British to be colonised by the ideology of the RSS,” he said during the rally. “The BJP and RSS are trying to impose their idea of ‘one nation- one language - one leader’. How can this be done in our country?”
Besides road shows, Rahul attended a farmers’ meeting in Pulpally, and also met Mananthavady Bishop Mar Jose Porunnedom.
Karat, Raja assail Modi
Slamming the prime minister, CPM poliburo member Prakash Karat said it will be “goodbye to democracy” if Narendra Modi is voted back to power. “This election will determine the future of democracy in India,” he stressed during an LDF campaign meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. “In Kerala, the fight is between LDF and UDF. But we need to see the all-India picture as well. There is a chance for a broad coalition forming an alternate government,” he said. Karat maintained that the ED probe into scam allegations involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter was politically motivated. He also clarified that CPM remained a national party, as it met the criterion of having recognition in at least four states.
At another LDF rally, CPI national secretary D Raja said the BJP should be voted out of power to safeguard the sanctity of the constitution. “Dr B R Ambedkar had put forward provisions to ensure that India did not end up a theocratic state. But what have we seen in the past 10 years? The BJP government is dividing the country along religious lines. Modi is the biggest disaster that India has ever witnessed,” he said. Raja added that the Union government had failed to generate employment, and Indian youths were leaving for Israel in search of jobs, and even getting killed there.